ABSTRACT

I argue that attempts in the philosophy of biology to show that organisms are processes, rather than substances, fail. Despite what process ontologists have said, substance ontology is perfectly able to accommodate the dynamic nature of organisms, their ecological dependence, and their vague boundaries, and their criticisms are directed not at substance ontology simpliciter, but only at specific (perhaps untenable) characterisations of substances. The paper ends by considering what a processual philosophy of biology that is radically in conflict with an ontology of substances might look like.

中文翻译：

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有机体是物质还是过程？

摘要

我认为，生物学哲学试图表明有机体是过程而不是物质的尝试失败了。尽管过程本体论者说了什么，实体本体论完全能够适应有机体的动态性质、它们的生态依赖性以及它们模糊的边界，并且他们的批评不是针对实体本体论的简单化，而只是针对特定的（也许站不住脚的）表征物质。论文最后考虑了与物质本体论根本冲突的生物学过程哲学可能是什么样子。