Aristotle on Meaning in the Living World

A Biosemiotic Perspective

Peter N. Jackson

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English

Springer Nature Switzerland AG
28 October 2025

Philosophy of language; Semiotics & semiology; Philosophy; Biology, life sciences; Life sciences: general issues

Series: Biosemiotics

This book provides an examination of Aristotle's relevance to modern philosophy and science. It presents Aristotle’s corpus as a complex and comprehensive picturing of a sublunary world in which meaning is exhibited by and shared between “beings” (ousiai). This approach is mirrored in modern philosophy by phenomenology and in modern science by biosemiotics. Peter N. Jackson argues, however, that Aristotle overcomes the slippery subjectivism residually found even in these sympathetic modern approaches; meaning is not just how living beings perceive the world, but is an inherent property of the world itself and the beings it contains. From this perspective, our vision of the world is itself incomplete and superficial if it does not recognise the ontological structures that give definition to that world or the principle of complementarity through which we can engage with the complex reality of that world. By contrast, reductionism claims to achieve a complete picture of the world but does so only by conflating philosophy, which needs to see the whole, with science, which needs to focus upon the part and which takes from philosophy only what it needs to do so. The price of this claimed completion is profound; it is the flattening of being and the annihilation of life itself and the milieu of meaning in which it exists. This volume appeals to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers, and helps us understand the world through science, mathematics, philosophy, and religion, without conflating or reducing these perspectives into one.

By: Peter N. Jackson
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Country of Publication: Switzerland
Volume: 30
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm,
ISBN: 9783032006011
ISBN 10: 3032006015
Series: Biosemiotics
Pages: 394
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction.- Aristotle in His Own Day.- Aristotle in Our Own Day.- Our Philosophical Context.- Aristotle on Meaning in Life.- Aristotle and the Problem of Abstraction.- Aristotle and the Philosophy of Ousia.- Can we Learn from Aristotles Science Today.- Can we Learn from Aristotles Biology Today.- Can we Learn from Aristotles Philosophy Today.- The Battle of the Gods and Giants.- Conclusions.

Peter N. Jackson is an independent researcher in philosophy and the history of science and religion. He lives in Manchester, England, and Rome, Italy, and holds several higher degrees in history and philosophy from the University of London. He has previously published the work Aristotle on the Meaning of Man with Peter Lang. He has also published several articles with associates on IT strategy for mergers in the finance sector.