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| From Aristotle to Darwin and Back Again: A Journey in Final Causality, Species and Evolution, by Étienne Gilson |
“THE object of the present essay is not to make final causality a scientific notion, which it is not, but to show that it is a philosophical inevitability and, consequently a constant of biophilosophy, or philosophy of life. It is not, then, a question of theology. If there is teleology in nature, the theologian has the right to rely on this fact in order to draw from it the consequences which, in his eyes, proceed from it concerning the existence of God. But the existence of teleology in the universe is the object of a properly philosophical reflection, which has no other goal than to confirm or invalidate the reality of it. The present work will be concerned with nothing else: reason interpreting sensible experience—does it or does it not conclude to the existence of teleology in nature?” ─ Étienne Gilson
“GILSON shows us that those who glibly suppose that modern biology has refuted Aristotle's doctrine of final causality do not properly understand either. The reprinting of this classic will, we can hope, contribute to the long-overdue revival of the philosophy of nature as an active field of study.”
─ Edward Feser, author of The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism.
From Aristotle to Darwin and Back Again is available at Amazon and Ignatius Press.
