Vitalism

Vitalismul este o teorie științifică depășită, infirmată,^[2]^[3] care explică procesele vitale prin prezența în organismele vii a unei așa-zise „forțe vitale” sau „elan vital”.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Din punct de vedere al istoriei științei, vitalismul se încadrează la „bioexcepționalism”: ideea că viața este ceva cu totul aparte de legile fizicii și chimiei.^[8]

Vitalismul ca și convingere metodologică în chimie era susținut de Berzelius în legătură cu posibilitatea de sinteză a substanțelor zise organice în afara organismelor vii. Invalidarea acestei ipoteze a fost realizată în 1828 de către Friedrich Wöhler, care a sintetizat ureea fără să folosească materiale biologice.^[1]

Susținerea vitalismului era că pentru sinteza substanțelor organice din substanțe anorganice este necesar un aport de „energie vitală”, pe care ar fi deținut-o doar organismele vii.^[6] Dovedirea falsității acestei susțineri a permis abordarea chimiei organice în mod similar cu studiul substanțelor minerale, zise anorganice.

În 1966, Francis Crick, co-descoperitor al structurii ADN-ului, a afirmat „Către cei care sunt vitaliști, voi face această profeție: ceea ce toată lumea credea ieri, iar voi credeți azi, mâine doar țicniții o vor mai crede.”^[9]

Deja în anii 1960 era riscant din punct de vedere profesional ca un biolog să se declare vitalist.^[8]

Referințe

^ ^a ^b Leicester, Henry Marshall; Klickstein, Herbert S. (1963). A Source Book in Chemistry, 1400-1900. Harvard University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-674-82230-6.
^ Williams, Elizabeth Ann (2003). A Cultural History of Medical Vitalism in Enlightenment Montpellier. Ashgate. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7546-0881-3. A general history of the sciences initiated by Georges Cuvier, for example, lauded the Montpellier vitalists for their role in demolishing "crude mechanist explanations" of body function and thus opening the way to a refurbished mechanism, built on late-Enlightenment advances in the physical sciences, that eventually vanquished vitalism and cleared the high road to the modern life sciences.¹⁷
^ Bechtel, William; Richardson, Robert C. (1998). „Vitalism”. În Craig, Edward. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 9: Sociology of Knowledge to Zoroastrianism. Taylor. ISBN 9780415187145. OCLC 38096851. Vitalism has fallen out of favour, though it had advocates even into the twentieth century.
^ „Vitalism” la DEX online; accesat pe 26 februarie 2017
^ Mayr, Ernst (1988). Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist. Harvard University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-674-89666-6. Vitalism has become so disreputable a belief in the last fifty years that no biologist alive today would want to be classified as a vitalist. Still, the remnants of vitalist thinking can be found in the work of Alistair Hardy, Sewall Wright, and Charles Birch, who seem to believe in some sort of nonmaterial principle in organisms.
^ ^a ^b Kricheldorf, Hans R. (31 mai 2016). Getting It Right in Science and Medicine: Can Science Progress through Errors? Fallacies and Facts. Springer International Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 978-3-319-30388-8.
^ Gan, Peter Chong-Beng (2015). Dialectics and the Sublime in Underhill's Mysticism. Springer Nature Singapore. p. 22. ISBN 978-981-287-484-9. Accesat în 17 noiembrie 2024.
^ ^a ^b Peterson, Erik L. (2023). „A 'Fourth Wave' of Vitalism in the Mid-20th Century?”. În Donohue, Christopher; Wolfe, Charles T. Vitalism and Its Legacy in Twentieth Century Life Sciences and Philosophy. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences. Springer International Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-3-031-12604-8. Accesat în 16 noiembrie 2024.
^ Crick, Francis (1966). Of molecules and men. Seattle: University of Washington Press. OCLC 173641. And so to those of you who may be vitalists I would make this prophecy: what everyone believed yesterday, and you believe today, only cranks will believe tomorrow. reviewed at Johnston, Ian (28 iunie 2006). „Some Varieties of Secular Humanist Experience: Review of Books by Crick and Kurtz”. Malaspina University College [Vancouver Island University]. Arhivat din originalul de la 15 februarie 2006. Accesat în 16 noiembrie 2024. Crick's remark is cited and discussed in: Hein, Hilde (1969). „Molecular biology vs. organicism: The enduring dispute between mechanism and vitalism”. Synthese. 20 (2): 238–253. doi:10.1007/BF00413789. ISSN 0039-7857. who describes Crick's remark as "raising spectral red herrings".

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[LeicesterKlickstein1963-1] Leicester, Henry Marshall; Klickstein, Herbert S. (1963). A Source Book in Chemistry, 1400-1900. Harvard University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-674-82230-6.

[Williams2003-2] Williams, Elizabeth Ann (2003). A Cultural History of Medical Vitalism in Enlightenment Montpellier. Ashgate. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7546-0881-3. A general history of the sciences initiated by Georges Cuvier, for example, lauded the Montpellier vitalists for their role in demolishing "crude mechanist explanations" of body function and thus opening the way to a refurbished mechanism, built on late-Enlightenment advances in the physical sciences, that eventually vanquished vitalism and cleared the high road to the modern life sciences.¹⁷

[Vitalism-3] Bechtel, William; Richardson, Robert C. (1998). „Vitalism”. În Craig, Edward. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 9: Sociology of Knowledge to Zoroastrianism. Taylor. ISBN 9780415187145. OCLC 38096851. Vitalism has fallen out of favour, though it had advocates even into the twentieth century.

[4] „Vitalism” la DEX online; accesat pe 26 februarie 2017

[Mayr1988-5] Mayr, Ernst (1988). Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist. Harvard University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-674-89666-6. Vitalism has become so disreputable a belief in the last fifty years that no biologist alive today would want to be classified as a vitalist. Still, the remnants of vitalist thinking can be found in the work of Alistair Hardy, Sewall Wright, and Charles Birch, who seem to believe in some sort of nonmaterial principle in organisms.

[Kricheldorf2016-6] Kricheldorf, Hans R. (31 mai 2016). Getting It Right in Science and Medicine: Can Science Progress through Errors? Fallacies and Facts. Springer International Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 978-3-319-30388-8.

[s681-7] Gan, Peter Chong-Beng (2015). Dialectics and the Sublime in Underhill's Mysticism. Springer Nature Singapore. p. 22. ISBN 978-981-287-484-9. Accesat în 17 noiembrie 2024.

[s822-8] Peterson, Erik L. (2023). „A 'Fourth Wave' of Vitalism in the Mid-20th Century?”. În Donohue, Christopher; Wolfe, Charles T. Vitalism and Its Legacy in Twentieth Century Life Sciences and Philosophy. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences. Springer International Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-3-031-12604-8. Accesat în 16 noiembrie 2024.

[Crick-9] Crick, Francis (1966). Of molecules and men. Seattle: University of Washington Press. OCLC 173641. And so to those of you who may be vitalists I would make this prophecy: what everyone believed yesterday, and you believe today, only cranks will believe tomorrow. reviewed at Johnston, Ian (28 iunie 2006). „Some Varieties of Secular Humanist Experience: Review of Books by Crick and Kurtz”. Malaspina University College [Vancouver Island University]. Arhivat din originalul de la 15 februarie 2006. Accesat în 16 noiembrie 2024. Crick's remark is cited and discussed in: Hein, Hilde (1969). „Molecular biology vs. organicism: The enduring dispute between mechanism and vitalism”. Synthese. 20 (2): 238–253. doi:10.1007/BF00413789. ISSN 0039-7857. who describes Crick's remark as "raising spectral red herrings".

[2]