Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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188626

Niels Bohr's argument for the irreducibility of biology to physics

Paul Hoyningen-Huene

pp. 231-255

Abstract

Even in his youth, Bohr was familiar with those difficult and controversial questions surrounding the relationship of the phenomena of life to those of inanimate nature, or in other words, the relationship of biology to physics and chemistry. (See e.g., APHK, 96; Folse, 1985, 45–46; and 1990a, 212; Holton, 1970, 142–143, 151; Kay, 1985a, 490; Meyer-Abich, 1965, 180; Petersen, 1985, 307; and Röseberg, 1985, 15–18, 195–196.) Are the phenomena of life in any sense fundamentally different from the processes of inanimate nature, or aren"t they? Bohr became more intensely preoccupied with this question once the stormy development of quantum mechanics had more or less wound down.

Publication details

Published in:

Faye Jan, Folse Henry J. (1994) Niels Bohr and contemporary philosophy. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 231-255

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-015-8106-6_10

Full citation:

Hoyningen-Huene Paul (1994) „Niels Bohr's argument for the irreducibility of biology to physics“, In: J. Faye & H. J. Folse (eds.), Niels Bohr and contemporary philosophy, Dordrecht, Springer, 231–255.