The Systems View of Life

The emerging new scientific conception of life, which we summarized in our Preface, can be seen as part of a broader paradigm shift from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological worldview. At its very core we find a shift of metaphors that is now becoming ever more apparent, as discussed by Capra (2002) – a change from seeing the world as a machi

Next, scientists attempt to interconnect the data in a coherent way, free of internal contradictions. The resulting representation is known as a scientific model.

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

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

the Cartesian division, the humanities concentrating on the res cogitans and the natural sciences on the res extensa.

The fallacy of the reductionist view lies in the fact that, while there is nothing wrong in saying that the structures of all living organisms are composed of smaller parts, and ultimately of molecules, this does not imply that their properties can be explained in terms of molecules alone.

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.

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.

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,