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Jacob von Uexküll: vitalist?
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What is Life? What are its properties and how do they originate? Answering these questions is the very centre of the field of Biology. Throughout history, the possible answers have fallen within a spectrum bounded by two opposing alternatives: Are the properties of life reducible to matter and physico-chemical forces? Or are they manifestations of some agent like a soul that is imprinted into matter? At the start of the 20th century, the scientist and later philosopher, Hans Driesch famously argued in favour of the latter: according to him, there is an external agent that organizes matter. He called this factor Entelechy. An organism is no longer just a combination of material elements, but a new category. At the same time, a friend of Driesch’s also opposed the materialistic claim, but argued that there is no such thing as an external active agent behind the properties of life. Instead there is a plan. This researcher was Jacob von Uexküll. In his opinion, the properties of life are explained by an all-encompassing conformity with a plan in nature. Driesch’s views are unanimously labelled as vitalistic, while, on the other end of the spectrum we have mechanicism – life is reducible to matter and forces. Can von Uexküll be branded a vitalist like Driesch? The opinions differ. Von Uexküll did not consider himself to be one. Instead he favoured an intermediate position, between the two ends of the spectrum. But some authors have argued otherwise. The following investigation hopes to shed some light on this question. The journey will take us first on a recapitulation of the great debate over the properties of life. Here we will define what we mean by vitalism and its opposite, mechanicism. Then the views of both Hans Driesch and Jacob von Uexküll will be presented, and later compared in more detail. We hope to tackle several questions raised by von Uexküll’s views: What does he mean by conformity with a plan? What exactly is this plan? Where does it come from? Can we know it? How does it direct the organisms? These questions will be held in comparison with Driesch’s biological theory. In the end we hope to present a clearer view of von Uexküll and his intriguing ideas.