Abstract
Whether or not biology is reducible to physics, it appears that all physical and chemical laws are binding for living things — plants and animals, and even viruses. Living things are material bodies. Like all material bodies, they are processes; and like some other material bodies (clouds, for example) they are open systems of molecules: systems that exchange some of their constituent parts with their environment. They belong to the universe of physical entities, or states of physical things, or physical states.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
I have adopted Sir John Eccles’s [1970] suggestion to speak of “World 1”, “World 2”, and “World 3”, instead of the “first world”, “second world” and “third world”, as I did prior to Eccles’s publication of Facing Reality, in which he made this suggestion.
See for example section 7 of my autobiography [1974(b)] and [1976(g)].
See my [1940(a)], now chapter 15 of my [1963(a)]. Also my [1960(d)], now the Introduction to [1963(a)]. Also section 47, below, and pp. 548ff., below.
See chapters E2 and E7 and the references there to Hubel’s and Wiesel’s work.
See Sir Ernst Gombrich [1960], [1962] and later editions, and J. J. Gibson, [1966].
Cp. also the experiments of R. Held and A. Hein [1963], reported by Eccles in [1970] p. 67 and in chapter E8.
Incidentally, I do not agree that even in an adult the idea of his self or of his ego must be able to accompany all his experiences. There are, definitely, mental states in which we are so absorbed in the problem before us that we forget all about our selves. For a discussion of Descartes, see section 48 below; on Kant, see section 31.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1977 Sir Karl Popper and Sir John Eccles
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Popper, K.R., Eccles, J.C. (1977). The Worlds 1, 2 and 3. In: The Self and Its Brain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61891-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61891-8_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-61893-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61891-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive