Abstract
AbstractFor most of the twentieth century, biology forgot or largely neglected organization. By this term, I mean a certain mode of interaction among the parts of a system, which is by hypothesis distinctively realized by biological systems. While a systemic trend is progressively pervading various biological fields – notably Evolutionary Biology, Systems Biology and Origins of Life – I suggest that organization still remains a blind spot of biological thinking. Therefore, I submit, biology should be enriched by an explicit and specific notion of organization, drawing in particular on the theory of autonomy, of which I recall some central tenets. I conclude with a brief overview of the scientific and philosophical tradition which has explicitly elaborated on biological organization, and of the more recent literature to which this book aims to contribute.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing