Summary
Introduction 1
THE EMERGENCY OF THE ORGANISM
- Anatomy and physiology in A Treatise of Human Nature 13
- The organic form according to Hume 39
- The art of creating worlds 67
- Machine and system in Adam Smith 97
- The Encyclopedia and the Art of Systems 123
- Buffon and the original design of nature 145
- Natural History, a matter of taste 173
- The science of signs in The Encyclopedia 201
THE OVERCOMING OF PURPOSIVENESS
- Organization and life 237
- Kant and the organic structure of reason 261
- Anatomy and Transcendence
- The archeology of forms and the history of nature 311
- Taxonomy and order in systems of Natural History 339
- Modalities of time in Natural History 363
- The Quarrel of the Analogues: Cuvier and Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire 393
- Natural selection and technical analogy 423
Conclusion 441
Bibliographic references 449
Acknowledgements