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Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences pp 1–14Cite as

Generation Theory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Embryology; Theories of reproduction

Related Topics

Anatomy; Causation; Epigenesis; God; Physiology; Preformation

Introduction

Generation theory in early modern Europe was an oft-eclectic attempt to explain reproduction. Generation had long been a problem, from Antiquity through the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods. This introduction will discuss some important background doctrines that informed early modern debates. Due to constraints of coherence and length, a number of important aspects of the history of generation theory will not be discussed, including non-elite theories, the practical aspects midwifery, as well as non-Mediterranean/non-European theories (for an introduction to some of these issues, see Needham 1959).

The Hippocratic corpus was filled with discussions of generation in works like On the Nature of Woman and On the Nature of the Child. These were concerned less with the technicalities of development, than with advice to guarantee a successful period of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Benjamin Goldberg

Authors
  1. Benjamin Goldberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Goldberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Dana Jalobeanu

  2. Dept. of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University Dept. Philosophy & Moral Sci, Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium

    Charles T. Wolfe

Section Editor information

  1. Département Histoire et Philosophie des Sciences, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France

    Justin E.H. Smith

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Goldberg, B. (2019). Generation Theory. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_167-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_167-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20791-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20791-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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