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Structure, Function and Growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Lawrence K. Frank
Lawrence K. Frank*
Affiliation:
72 Perry Street, New York, N. Y.
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Abstract

Today we are in the midst of a far-reaching shift in scientific thought involving the recasting of many of our long-cherished ideas and preconceptions. To some this appears but the orderly evolution of scientific thought, while to others it portends a revolution in both the ideas and the methods of scientific inquiry.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , April 1935 , pp. 210 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1935

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References

1 Cf. A. N. Whitehead, “Science and the Modern World;” G. N. Lewis, “Anatomy of Science;” P. W. Bridgman, “Logic of Modern Physics;” William M. Wheeler, “Emergent Evolution,” also “Present Tendencies in Biological Theory,” Scientific Monthly, February 1929; Ritter and Bailey, “The Organismic Conception,” University of California Publications; F. S. C. Northrop, “Science and First Principles;” Ortega y Gasset, “The Modern Theme,” pp. 135–152, esp. pp. 139–142.

2 “The history of science is a record, not so much of the progressive discovery of truth, but of our gradual emancipation from error.” President Kemp Smith, Edinburgh University, Inaugural Address.

3 Cf. J. H. Woodger, “The Concept of Organism and the Relation Between Embryology and Genetics.” Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. V, No. 1, March 1930.

Cf. also emphasis upon need of “operational concepts” in “Logic of Modern Physics,” by P. W. Bridgman.

4 “Entities and Organization in Current Biological Theory,” by F. S. C. Northrop. Sigma Xi Quarterly, Vol. XXI, No. 1, March 1933.

5 “Physiological Time,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel. Science, Vol. 74, No. 1929, p. 620.

6 Cf. the writer's earlier statement of this view in “The Development of Science,” Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXI, No. 1, January 1924.

See also his “Problem of Learning,” Psychological Review, Vol. 33, No. 5, September 1926.

7 “The New Cytology,” Dr. Alexis Carrel. Science, Vol. 73, No. 1890, p. 300, March 20, 1931.

8 “The New Cytology,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel. Science, Vol. 73, No. 1890, p. 298, March 20, 1931.

9 “The Neuro-Embryologic Study of Behavior: Principles, Perspective and Aim,” by Professor G. E. Coghill. Science, Vol. 78, No. 2016, August 18, 1933, p. 137.

10 “Physiological Time,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel. Science, Vol. 74, No. 1929, December 18, 1931, p. 619.

11 See J. Needham, “Protein Metabolism and Organic Evolution,” Science Progress, April 1929, for an excellent illustration of this point.

12 “The Liquid State,” by Professor Joel H. Hildebrand. Science, Vol. 80, No. 2067, August 10, 1934, p. 126.

13 Report of A.A.A.S. meeting, New Orleans, December 1931, Section H. Anthropology.

14 “On Poisons and Disease and Some Experiments with the Toxin of the Bacillus Tetani,” by Dr. John J. Abel. Science, Vol. 79, No. 2039, January 26, 1934, p. 70.

15 Cf. Wm. DeB. MacNider, “The Morpological Basis for Certain Tissue Resistance.” Science, Vol. 73, No. 1882, p. 103 et seq., Jan. 23, 1931.

16 “The New Cytology,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel; supra.

17 “L. J. Henderson, Interpreting Willard Gibbs' Phase-Rule, describes similar characteristics of reality when he writes: ‘I. Other things being equal, the stability of a system increases with the number of phases, and also with the number of restrictions upon the intensities of energy, e.g., temperature, and upon the concentrations. Thus a system of three phases is more stable than a similar system of two phases; a system of constant temperature is more stable than a similar system in which the temperature is variable; and a system in which the tension of carbon dioxide is constant is more stable than one in which this is a variable quantity. II. Other things being equal, the stability of a system diminishes with increase of the number of its undecomposed constituent molecular species, and the number of different forms of energy, e.g., heat, pressure, electrical potential, surface-tension, which are involved in its activities. (Cf. ”The Order of Nature,“ Cambridge, 1917, pp. 136–7.)’ ” From “Crossing ‘The Rubicon Between Mechanism and Life,’” by Robert Morris Ogden. The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXII, No. 11, May 21, 1925, p. 287.

Cf. also “Organization for Physiological Homeostasis,” W. B. Cannon. Physiological Review, Vol. 9, No. 3, July 1929.

18 Cf. F. H. Pike, “Vitalism, Mechanism and Organicism,” Science, Vol. 76, No. 1974, p. 384.

19 Cf. the writer's paper, “The Locus of Experience,” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XX, No. 12, June 7, 1923.

20 See Henry Dale, “Chemical Ideas in Medicine and Biology,” Science, October 19, 1934, Vol. 80, No. 2077.

Cf. also “Physical and Chemical Changes in Nerve during Activity,” Occasional Publications No. 2 A.A.A.S. Supplement to Science, Vol. 79.

21 “Cutaneous Sensation,” by Professor S. W. Ranson. Science, Vol. 78, No. 2027, November 3, 1933, p. 396.

22 Cf. E. A. Bott, “Criticism and Ways of Inquiry,” Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XX, No. 10, May 10, 1923, where he describes this procedure as the “split-field method.”

See also the writer's paper, “Causation: An Episode in the History of Thought,” Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXXI, No. 16, August 2, 1934.

23 “Individual Differences in Human Blood,” by Karl Landsteiner. Science, Vol. 78, No. 1894, April 17, 1931.

24 Cf. L. L. Thurstone—“The Stimulus and Response Fallacy,” Psychological Review, Vol. 30, No. 5, September 1922.

25 Cf. the writer's paper, “The Problem of Learning;” supra.

26 Cf. Wolfgang Köhler—“Gestalt Psychology;” also see the writer's paper, “The Problem of Learning,” supra, where this interaction of organism and situation is discussed at length.

27 “Mass Action in Cerebral Function,” by Professor K. S. Lashley. Science, Vol. 73, No. 1888, March 6, 1931, p. 253.

28 Cf. the discussions by F. H. Pike of the crucial character of the shift from water to air breathing; also Needham's paper (supra); also the writer's paper, “The Problem of Learning,” (supra); also F. S. C. Northrop, “Science and First Principles,” Chapter V, p. 224 et seq.

29 Chappell, M. M. and Pike, F. H., “The Organic World and the Causal Principle: a Criticism.” Science, Vol. LXXII, No. 1869, Oct. 24, 1930, p. 427.

See also the writer's paper, “Causation: An Episode in the History of Thought;” supra.

30 “The New Cytology,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel; supra.

31 “Some Chemical Aspects of Life,” by Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins. Science, Vol. 78, No. 2020, September 15, 1933, p. 227.

Cf. also “Present Tendencies and Methods of Physiological Teaching and Research,” by A. V. Hill. Science, Vol. LXI, No. 1577, March 20, 1925, esp. p. 302.

32 Cf. “Physiological Time,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel. Science, Vol. 74, No. 1929, December 18, 1931.

33 “Enzymes, Vitamins and the Zone of Maximum Colloidality,” by Jerome Alexander. Science, Vol. 80, No. 2064, July 20, 1934, p. 80.

34 “Essays in Experimental Logic,” by John Dewey. University of Chicago Press, 1916, pp. 93 and 94.

35 “The New Cytology,” by Dr. Alexis Carrel; supra.