Author: Rosen, Robert
Price: $22.99
Category:Biological Sciences
Publication Date:2005-07-13T00:00:01Z
Pages:285
Binding:Paperback
ISBN:10:0231075650
ISBN:13:9780231075657
What is life? For four centuries, it has been believed that the only possible scientific approach to this question proceeds from the Cartesian metaphor — organism as machine. Therefore, organisms are to be studied and characterized the same way “machines” are; the same way any inorganic system is. Robert Rosen argues that such a view is neither necessary nor sufficient to answer the question. He asserts that life is not a specialization of mechanism, but rather a sweeping generalization of it. Above all, Rosen argues that renouncing mechanism does not mean abandoning science. A radical alternative is proposed, drawn equally from experience in biology, physics, and mathematics; an alternative which draws attention to a new class of complex systems, which are radically different from mechanism.
