Aristotele e le malformazioni genetiche: riflessioni a partire dal IV libro del De generatione animalium
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The birth of a malformed being constitutes a particular problem within the Aristotelian reproductive theory that is considered, usually, as the teleological process par excellence. Any deformity interrupts the achievement of the telos, which is normally recognisable through the transmission of the essential form from the parents to the offspring. On the contrary, malformed beings are not a perfect formal repetition of their parents and, in turn, they do not replicate themselves in another being coming from them. This paper aims at examining the way in which Aristotle deals with this topic, developed, in particular, in The Generation of Animals (Book IV), within the theory of the genetic inheritance. According to this doctrine a malformation represents a deviation from the ideal and correct development of the reproductive process, when the matter provided by the mother, in the procreative mechanism, is not overwhelmed by the impulse of the paternal form. The issue of malformations highlights the presence of an irreducible element in the sublunary world, characterized by the so-called material necessity and the mechanical aspect of the nature, which, at times, can support or obstruct the teleological design of nature, becoming clear also in some imperfections. Nonetheless, the anomaly makes evident the presence of this element within the natural processes, which constitutes one of the fundamental assumptions of the physis.
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