The Systems View of Life

The philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels (1859–1932) used the German word Gestalt, meaning “organic form,” to describe an irreducible perceptual pattern, which sparked the school of Gestalt psychology. To characterize a Gestalt, Ehrenfels coined the celebrated phrase, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts,” which would become the catchphrase

Twentieth-century science has shown repeatedly that all natural phenomena are ultimately interconnected, and that their essential properties, in fact, derive from their relationships to other things. Hence, in order to explain any one of them completely, we would have to understand all the others, and that is obviously impossible.

This implies that one should be able to understand all aspects of complex structures – plants, animals, or the human body – by reducing them to their smallest constituent parts. This philosophical position is known as Cartesian reductionism.

As we discuss in Section 4.3, the essential properties of a living system are emergent properties – properties that are not found in any of the parts but emerge at the level of the system as a whole.

The study of matter begins with the question, “What is it made of?” This leads to the notions of fundamental elements, building blocks; to measuring and quantifying. The study of form asks, “What is the pattern?” And that leads to the notions of order, organization, and relationships. Instead of quantity, it involves quality; instead of measuring,

According to the systems view, an organism, or living system, is an integrated whole whose essential properties cannot be reduced to those of its parts. They arise from the interactions and relationships between the parts.

First, it involves the systematic observation of the phenomena being studied and the recording of these observations as evidence, or scientific data.

Descartes’ cogito, as it has come to be called, made mind more certain for him than matter and led him to the conclusion that the two were separate and fundamentally different. The Cartesian division between mind and matter has had a profound effect on Western thought. It has taught us to be aware of ourselves as isolated egos existing “inside” our

Last, the theoretical model is tested by further observations and, if possible, additional experiments.