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Title: Reflections on a Theory of Organisms: Holism in Biology by Walter M. Elsasser, Bruce D. Marsh, Harry Rubin ISBN: 0-8018-5970-0 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: It has much potential and can lead further.
Comment: A fascinating book by Walter Elsasser a physicist but having to do with biology. The book is somewhat confusing at times though. Elsasser gives the appearance of constructing some sort of theory which might lead to a theoretical biology, based on holism rather than the currently used metaphysic: reductionism, but never quite makes it. You always get the sense its just not complete and not thought out fully. He does take certain solid viewpoints: (1) a theoretical biology must obey the physical laws of quantum mechanics and (2) it must eschew vitalism, which Elsasser says is a theory which requires new and non-redicible laws for macroscopic biological organisms which are unique to organisms. In other words a separate set of laws just for organisms. And yet as one reads through his book one gets the feeling that there is more to it than that. At first he says that normal physical laws must be obeyed and then he expands his views to indicate that maybe there is something very special about organisms and that the mechanical view, which of course led to such laws in the first place, is just akind of short-sighted projection of reality to a mechanistic universe. If mechanism is just that, a small biased view of what happens rather than reality itself then these laws must also be simply an aspect of the full understanding. One then suspects that organisms do have laws unto themselves although they still obey quantum mechanics except the fuller set of principles of which quantum mechanics is just a part.
He attacks reductionism quite successfully and shows how a great deal more is possible in biology. Luckily as you proceed through the book it gets more and more interesting although never at any time do you feel that his principles he sets up in the earlier part of the book mesh with the later material. Perhaps a second reading will clear this up. It has much potential and can lead further especially in the hands of someone like Robert Rosen in his "Life Itself".
Rating: 5
Summary: Still very relevant and fresh...
Comment: Considering the age of this book it is still very relevant and interesting. That is, Elsasser did not have the benefit of more recent advances in several areas including Algorithmic Information Theory, artificial intelligence, and genetics. In particular, I suspect he would have had a lot to say about the genome-mapping fiasco and the spectacular failure of mechanistic genetic theories to come anywhere close to predicting reality.
Elsasser introduced the term 'holism' in this book in order that biology could return to something more useful than playing with simple chemical reactions. He realized the inherent limitations of the reductionist view, later expounded by Robert Rosen. Elsasser's background in physics and mathematics let him see the inherent limitations of the current fascination with the narrow reductionist view and gave him ample ammunition to expose the fallacies of this mode of exploration.
This book is very readable and contains almost no math - Elsasser references many papers and other works that do contain the theory. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to continue exploration in Robert Rosen's excellent books. It is highly recommended.
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Title: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz ISBN: 0786868449 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 05 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Atom and Organism: A New Approach to Theoretical Biology by Walter M. Elsasser ISBN: 0691079153 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1966 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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