Abstract
We consider first the most fundamental “design in nature,” the explanatory structure of the universe on the basis of the natural sciences, and the related problem of teleology in nature. We point out that it is necessary to generalize the presently used explanatory scheme of physics. We derive here the first essentially complete scientific world picture and obtain new insights answering to the problem of cosmic design. Considering some important objections against teleology, we present counterarguments and give a new classification of the main classes of teleology and their quantitative complexity measures. Comparing the new classification of teleology with that of Mayr, we give useful examples and indicate why teleology is useful for natural science. As a result, we outline a general picture of the basic types of design in nature and provide their scientific explanation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In quantum electrodynamics, radioactive decay as well as spontaneous emission and similar processes are elicited by virtual interactions. In that way, class (3) causes become involved into class (1).
- 2.
In the double-slit experiment, Feynman’s ideas mean the particles take paths that go through only one slit or only the other; paths that thread through the first slit, back out through the second slit, and then through the first again; paths that visit the restaurant that serves that great curried shrimp, and then circle Jupiter a few times before heading home; and even paths that go across the universe and back. Feynman’s formulation has proved more useful than the original one (Hawking and Mlodinow, 2010, 45–46).
- 3.
It is easy to observe that the different kinds of explanation of “why did the frog jump into the water?” given by Rose (1997, 10–13, 85–97) missed the target of obtaining a clear and complete picture regarding the nature of causation in nature. At variance of his five types of explanations, all the three causes we indicated here are actual causes, and all of them correspond to a generative principle of reality, which form an essentially complete system of nature.
- 4.
In biochemistry, allosteric regulation is the regulation of an enzyme or other protein by binding an effector molecule at the protein’s allosteric site (i.e., a site other than the protein’s active site).
5. References
Barbieri M (2002) Organic codes: metaphors or realities? Sign System Studies 30:743–754
Barrow JD, Tipler FJ (1986) The anthropic cosmological principle. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Bauer E (1967) Theoretical biology (1935: in Russian; 1967: in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, p 51
Brent R, Bruck J (2006) Can computers help to explain biology? Nature 440:416–417
Brown LM (ed) (2005) Feynman’s thesis: a new approach to quantum theory. World Scientific, Singapore
Chaitin GJ (1966) On the length of programs for computing finite binary sequences. J ACM 13:547–569
Chaitin GJ (1985) An APL2 gallery of mathematical physics – a course outline. In: Proceedings of the Japan’85 APL symposium, Publ. N:GE18-9948-0 IBM Japan, pp 1–26
Clayton P, Davies P (2006) The re-emergence of emergence. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 46
Davies P (1984) Superforce. the search for a grand unified theory of nature. Touchstone, New York, pp 104–105
Davies P (1992) The mind of god. The scientific basis for a rational world. Touchstone, New York, 73
Davies P (2004) When time began. New Scientist, October 9
Davies P (2006) The Goldilocks Enigma. Why is the universe just right for life? Allan Lane, Penguin Books, London
Davies P (2011) Why is the universe just right for life? In: Tymieniecka A-T, Grandpierre A (eds) Astronomy and civilization in the new enlightenment, vol 107, Analecta Husserliana. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 199–209
Dawkins R (2006) The god delusion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0-618-68000-4
Ellis GFR (2005) Physics, complexity and causality. Nature 435:743
Feynman RP, Hibbs AR (1965) Quantum mechanics and path integrals. McGraw-Hill, New York
Feynman RP, Leighton RB, Sands M (1964) Lectures on physics, vol 2. Addison-Wesley, Reading
Grandpierre A (1995) Quantum-vacuum interactions in the brain. In: Laszlo E (ed) The interconnected universe. Toward a unified science of quantum, cosmos and consciousness. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 113–117, Appendix
Grandpierre A (2004) Conceptual steps towards exploring the fundamental lifelike nature of the sun. Interdiscipl Descrip Complex Syst (INDECS) 2:12–28
Grandpierre A (2007) Biological extension of the action principle: endpoint determination beyond the quantum level and the ultimate physical roots of consciousness. Neuroquantology 5:346–362
Grandpierre A (2008a) Cosmic life forms. Published as a chapter in Seckbach J, Walsh M (eds) From fossils to astrobiology, Springer, Dordrecht, pp 369–385
Grandpierre A (2008b) Fundamental complexity measures of life. In: Seckbach J, Gordon R (eds) Divine action and natural selection: questions of science and faith in biological evolution. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 566–615
Hartle J (1991) Excess baggage. In: Schwarz JH (ed) Elementary particles and the universe: essays in honor of Murray Gell-Mann. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–10
Hawking S, Mlodinow L (2010) The grand design. Transworld Publ. Ltd., London
Hempel C (1966) Philosophy of natural sciences. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, pp 71, 72
Henry J (1988) The origins of modern science: Henry Oldenburg’s contribution. Br J Hist Sci 21:103–110
Hooker R (1996) The European enlightenment and scientific revolution. http://www.wsu.edu/∼dee/ENLIGHT/SCIREV.HTM
Hunter GK (1996) Is biology reducible to chemistry? Perspect Biol Med 40:130–138
Jacob F, Monod J (1961) On the regulation of gene activity. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 26:193–211
Kitcher P (1999) Function and design. In: Buller DJ (ed) Function, selection, and design. SUNY Press, New York, pp 159–183
Kolmogorov AN (1965) Three approaches to the quantitative definition of information. Probl Inform Transmission 1:1–7
Kurakin A (2010) Order without design. Theor Biol Med Model 7:12. doi:10.1186/1742-4682-7-12
Landau LD, Lifshitz EM (2000) Mechanics. 3rd edn. Transl. by Sykes JB, Bell JS. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, pp 2–3
Lefebvre VA (2001) Algebra of conscience, second enlargedth edn. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht
Lefebvre VA (2003) Mentalism and behaviorism: merging? Reflex Process Control 2:56–76
Martinás K, Grandpierre A (2007) Thermodynamic measure for nonequilibrium processes. Interdiscipl Descrip Complex Syst (INDECS) 5:1–13
Maynard Smith J (2000) The concept of information in biology. Philos Sci 67:177–194
Mayr E (1988) The multiple meanings of teleological. Chapter 3 of his Toward a new philosophy of biology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 38–64
Mayr E (2004) What makes biology unique? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
“mechanism” (1913) Entry in Catholic encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company, New York
Milonni PW (1994) The quantum vacuum. An introduction to quantum electrodynamics. Academic, London
Monod J (1974) Chance and necessity. Fontana Books, Collins, London, p 73
Moore TA (1996) Least-action principle. In: Rigden J (ed) Macmillan encyclopedia of physics, 2nd edn. Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, New York, p 840
Moore TA (2004) Getting the most action out of least action: a proposal. Am J Phys 72:522–527
Nagel E (1979) Teleology revisited. In: Teleology revisited and other essays in the philosophy and history of science. Columbia University Press, New York, p 278
Oldenburg H (1661/1928) Letter to Baruch Spinoza, dated London, 27 Sept 1661. In: The correspondence of Spinoza, transl. Wolf A. Allen & Unwin, London, p 80
Pontryagin LS (1978) Optimization and differential games. Uspehi Matematicheskiy Nauk 93:22–28 (in Russian)
Rose S (1997) Lifelines. Biology, freedom, determinism. Penguin, London, pp 10–13, 85–97
Taylor EF (2003) A call to action. Guest editorial. Am J Phys 71:423–425
Tokin BP (1988) Theoreticheskaia biologiia i biofizika (Zametki v sviazy s tvorchestvom E.S. Bauera) (Theoretical biology and biophysics [Notes on the work of E.S. Bauer]). Trudy Leningradskogo obshchestva estestvoispytatelei 88(I):8–50 (transl. M. Müller)
Vogel G, Angermann H (1984) dtv-Atlas zur Biologie. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, München, p 1
Wheeler JA (1994) It from bit. In: At home in the universe. AIP Press, Woodbury, pp 295–311
Yockey HP (2005) Information theory, evolution, and the origin of life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 6
Yourgrau W, Mandelstam S (1960) Variational principles in dynamics and quantum theory. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, London
Zee A (1986) Fearful symmetry. The search for beauty in modern physics. Macmillan Publ. Co., New York, pp 107–109, 143
4. Acknowledgment
It is a true pleasure for us to thank the inspiring insights and continuous assistance of our friend, Jean Drew, in preparing this work and for lecturing the English of the previous version.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grandpierre, A. (2012). On the Biological Origin of Design in Nature. In: Swan, L., Gordon, R., Seckbach, J. (eds) Origin(s) of Design in Nature. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4156-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4156-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4155-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4156-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)