The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science

by Armand Marie Leroi

In this book I have sketched Aristotle’s account of five interlocked biological processes: (i) the nutritional system by which an animal takes up complex matter from its environment, alters its qualities and redistributes it to its various tissues so that it can grow, thrive and reproduce; (ii) the thermoregulatory cycle by which it maintains itself and which, as it ages, falls apart; (iii) the CIOM system by which an animal perceives and responds to its environment; (iv) the epigenetic processes of embryonic development and its related spontaneous-generator version; (v) the inheritance system. All of these processes are underpinned by Aristotle’s physical theory and are, as such, mechanistic. That the physical theory is wrong is irrelevant; in the long run, all physical theories are.