Abstract
Biological organization is manifestly different from the order of the nonliving world, and the study of biology is largely a search for the nature of this difference. The perspective and style with which we see this difference has changed in many respects as our knowledge of living systems has grown. Today, following the molecular biological revolution, we commonly find the opinion that there is no real problem left. This attitude was recently expressed by Delbrück (1970) in his Nobel Lecture: “Molecular genetics, our latest wonder, has taught us to spell out the connectivity of the tree of life in such palpable detail that we may say in plain words, ‘This riddle of life has been solved’.” Many prominent molecular biologists have expressed similar views (Watson, 1965; Crick, 1966; Kendrew, 1967; Stent, 1968).
The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self of the chains that shackle the spirit... and the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution. Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music.
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Pattee, H.H. (1976). Physical Theories of Biological Co-Ordination. In: Topics in the Philosophy of Biology. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 27. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1829-6_7
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