Abstract
This paper aims at giving an account of the philosophy of norms of Georges Canguilhem in the framework of his philosophical vitalism. According to Canguilhem, vitalism is not a metaphysical or ontological theory, but rather a general attitude or a perspective about life and living beings, both understood employing the axiological concept of ‘normativity’. This notion allows Canguilhem to enlarge the concept of life beyond the field of biological phenomena, encompassing also phenomena of the social world, included technique and scientific knowledge and rationality. Canguilhem’s perspective relocates human activities within a vitalistic conception of life, which redefines the meaning of human reason by putting it in relation to values and norms.
Highlights
This paper aims at giving an account of the philosophy of norms of Georges Canguilhem in the framework of his philosophical vitalism
His work cannot be confined to the narrow field of philosophy of medicine and biology, but aims at providing a wider and more comprehensive perspective, able to provide a philosophical account for more complex aspects of human life, such as knowledge, rationality, and social behaviours
The scientist Emil Du Bois-Reymond (1818–1896) stated, in a speech dedicated to the memory of his former professor Johannes Müller (1801–1858), that vitalism played no positive role in the development of the muscular physiology [20: 135–317]
Summary
The conceptual label ‘vitalism’ has been used in the modern history of ideas to denote several different scientific, metaphysical, or religious theories and beliefs concerning the status of living beings and life phenomena within the physical unanimated world. The French philosopher André Lalande wrote, in his Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie (1927), that the most general meaning of the word ‘vitalism’ refers to each doctrine or conviction that claims for a radical difference between phenomena concerning life and all other natural (physical or chemical) facts [24]. The French philosopher André Lalande wrote, in his Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie (1927), that the most general meaning of the word ‘vitalism’ refers to each doctrine or conviction that claims for a radical difference between phenomena concerning life and all other natural (physical or chemical) facts [24] According to this definition, vitalism often includes (or is associated with) other controversial beliefs, such as psychological and metaphysical theories about the origin of the mind or even animism, intended as a belief in the common origin of life and soul [24]. This position appears to match with a valorisation of vitalism since notions of “norm” and “normativity” are core concepts of Canguilhem’s inquiry on health and disease [13]
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