Wolff's physical writings continue: a
book on general physical processes and another book on the purposes
of physical processes are followed by a book concentrating
specifically on biological questions, Vernünfftige Gedancken von
dem Gebrauche der Theile in Menschen, Thieren und Pflanzen.
As we have seen
earlier, biology and especially botanic was a topic Wolff himself had
empirically investigated. It is then no wonder that the book feels
quite professional and up-to-date, even if Wolff cannot yet know e.g.
how leaves actually nourish plant in their interaction with carbon
dioxide: it is enough that he can describe leaves and their parts and understands that they have something to with the nourishment of plants. Wolff goes carefully through all parts of human body, beginning
from different types of fibers – the smallest elements of living
matter known at that time – and all organs made out of these
elements, and if necessary, he compares parts of human body with
parts of other animals. After humans and animals, similar treatment
waits plants.
What is somewhat
striking is Wolff's open attitude towards even the most taboo
questions of human bodies, particularly sexuality. Description of
sexual organs was frowned upon, because reading about genitalia was
thought to incite people to perversities. Wolff, on the other hand,
thinks that information about sexuality will help a person to fulfill sexual needs in a moral manner: you cannot do something properly, if
you don't know the reasons for it. Interestingly, Wolff is aware of
the role of clitoris in female sexuality and thinks it has been
created for awakening in women the want of intercourse - a necessary precondition of having children. Wolff also suggests that sexual
pleasure is especially meant to encourage women to want sexual
intercourse: otherwise they might refrain from it, because they
feared the burden of child birth.
As it should be evident, Wolff is not
satisfied with mere description of living beings, but is also
concerned to find the reason why God created them in the first place.
The answer is actually familiar already from Wolff's teleology:
humans and other rational entities exist in order to witness the glory
of creation, and other things, including living entities, are meant
to serve rational beings and their needs.
Wolff adds to this general description
of the purpose of animals and plants two interesting details.
Firstly, while Wolff's official teleological account of the world is
an example of what later was called external teleology (things have a
purpose beyond themselves), he also notes that animal and plant
species could also be regarded as having an internal purpose that does
not require reference to things beyond that species. Wolff suggests
that this internal purpose would be propagation of species: animals
and plants exist to produce other plants and animals of the same
type. Thus, from the viewpoint of a certain plant, it is contingent
that we use its flowers for medicinal purposes, but on the other
hand, it is relevant that the flower produces seeds.
Secondly, Wolff also adds an
aesthetic layer to his teleology. That is, he suggests that God
does not just create purposive animals and plants, but that God's creations are also
beautiful or pleasing to senses. Wolff especially emphasizes the
symmetricity of animals as an evidence of their beauty: it just looks
better if I have two ears equidistant from the center of the face and
not, for instance, one on left hand and other on stomach.
Philosophically most interesting part
of Wolff's biology are the little details that shed some more light
on the question of the interaction of soul and body. Wolff refrains
from the central question, whether and how soul and body interact, on
the pretext that this is more of a metaphysical than biological
problem. Yet, he points out that the problem concerns actually the
interaction between the soul and the brain, which then controls the
rest of the body. The exact details of this control are
still not known to Wolff. Wolff is aware of nerves, but he doesn't
really know how they work, so he must rely on Cartesian idea that there are some mysterious animal spirits that help nerves turn volitional movements of brain into movements of muscles, although instead of spirits, Wolff prefers the more material concept of nerve juice.
Before ending this post, I shall just
quickly note that Wolff was actually more involved with biological
studies at this time, because in a few years he published an
inaugural dissertation celebrating his new post at the university of
Marburg, Phaenomenon singulare de malo pomifera absque floribus ad
rationes physicas revocatum,
which is based on the botanical research of Wolff and his follower
Thümmig.
So much for Wolff's biology. In next
post, I shall investigate a Wolffian we have already met a number of
times, tackling now metaphysics.
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