Puzzles of Spontaneous Generation in Aristotle’s Writings
Abstract
This article attempts to address the issues present in the discussion on Aristotle’s theory of spontaneous generation. These issues include: the problem of coherence of Stagirite's views on the phenomenon of spontaneous generation, the question of the location of the male and female “principle of generation” in the process of spontaneous formation of living organisms, and the question of the presence of a formal cause in this process. In this article the author tries to prove that: 1) in the paragraphs devoted to spontaneous generation in the Corpus Aristotelicum one can find the basis for a consistent and coherent theory, 2) in both stages, which can be distinguished in the process of spontaneous generation of living organisms, both “principles of generation” are closely related and interdependent, 3) the source of the species form for organisms created by spontaneous generation can be transformed “movements” contained in the internal heat of organic matter, whose primary source is the organism from which the matter originates.
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