Life itself : a comprehensive inquiry into the nature, origin, and fabrication of life

Author:Robert Rosen

Summary:"For centuries, it was believed that the only scientific approach to the question "What is life?" must proceed from the Cartesian metaphor (organism as machine). Classical approaches in science, which also borrow heavily from Newtonian mechanics, are based on a process called "reductionism." The thinking was that we can better learn about an intricate, complicated system (like an organism) if we take it apart, study the components, and then reconstruct the system - thereby gaining an understanding of the whole." "However, Rosen argues that reductionism does not work in biology and ignores the complexity of organisms. Life Itself, a landmark work, represents the scientific and intellectual journey that led Rosen to question reductionism and develop new scientific approaches to understanding the nature of life. Ultimately, Rosen proposes an answer to the original question about the causal basis of life in organisms. He asserts that renouncing the mechanistic and reductionistic models does not mean abandoning science. Instead, Rosen offers an alternate paradigm for science that takes into account the relational effects of organization in natural systems and is based on organized matter rather than on particulate matter alone."--Jacket

Print Book, English, 2005

Edition:Casebound ed View all formats and editions

Publisher: Columbia University Press, New York, 2005

Series:

Complexity in ecological systems series

Physical Description:xix, 285 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

ISBN:

9780231075657, 0231075650

OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:1019953512

Subjects:

Biological systems

Biologie Philosophie