Ernst Mayr argued that the emergence of biology as a special science in the early nineteenth century was possible due to the demise of the mathematical model of science and its insistence on demonstrative knowledge. More recently, John Zammito has claimed that the rise of biology as a special science was due to a distinctive experimental, anti-metaphysical, anti-mathematical, and anti-rationalist strand of thought coming from outside of Germany. In this paper we argue that this narrative neglects the important role played by the mathematical and axiomatic model of science in the emergence of biology as a special science. We show that several major actors involved in the emergence of biology as a science in Germany were working with an axiomatic conception of science that goes back at least to Aristotle and was popular in mid-eighteenth-century German academic circles due to its endorsement by Christian Wolff. More specifically, we show that at least two major contributors to the emergence of biology in Germany—Caspar Friedrich Wolff and Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus—sought to provide a conception of the new science of life that satisfies the criteria of a traditional axiomatic ideal of science. Both C.F. Wolff and Treviranus took over strong commitments to the axiomatic model of science from major philosophers of their time, Christian Wolff and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, respectively. The ideal of biology as an axiomatic science with specific biological fundamental concepts and principles thus played a role in the emergence of biology as a special science.

中文翻译：

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公理自然哲学与一门科学生物学的出现

Ernst Mayr 认为，由于科学数学模型的消亡及其对证明性知识的坚持，生物学在 19 世纪早期作为一门特殊科学出现是可能的。最近，约翰·扎米托 (John Zammito) 声称，生物学作为一门特殊科学的兴起是由于来自德国以外的独特的实验性、反形而上学、反数学和反理性主义思想。在本文中，我们认为这种叙述忽略了科学的数学和公理模型在生物学作为一门特殊科学的出现中所发挥的重要作用。我们表明，参与生物学作为一门科学在德国出现的几个主要参与者正在使用一种公理化的科学概念，该概念至少可以追溯到亚里士多德，并且由于得到了 Christian 的认可而在 18 世纪中叶的德国学术界流行。沃尔夫。更具体地说，我们表明，德国生物学出现的至少两个主要贡献者——卡斯帕·弗里德里希·沃尔夫和戈特弗里德·莱因霍尔德·特雷维拉努斯——试图提供一种满足传统公理科学理想标准的新生命科学概念。CF Wolff 和 Treviranus 分别从当时的主要哲学家 Christian Wolff 和 Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling 那里接过对科学公理模型的坚定承诺。