Emergence and Modularity in Life Sciences

• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Other Authors: Wegner, Lars H. (Editor, http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/edt), Lüttge, Ulrich (Editor, http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/edt)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2019.
• Edition: 1st ed. 2019.
• Subjects: Systems biology.; Philosophy and science.; Ecosystems.; Plant science.; Botany.; Systems Biology.; Philosophy of Science.; Plant Sciences.

This book focuses on modules and emergence with self-organization in the life sciences. As Aristotle observed so long ago, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. However, contemporary science is dominated by reductionist concepts and tends to neglect the non-reproducible features of complex sy...

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• The Basics
• Is there anything new under the sun?
• Instability as the core of emergence
• Emergence and modularity in life sciences and beyond
• The emergence of sustainability
• From modules to emergent holistic properties in living organisms
• Modularity versus emergence: How to cope with complexity in whole plant physiology?
• Emergence in biomimetic materials systems
• Roots of complexity in the self-referential genetic code
• Brains emerging: on modularity and self-organization of neural development in vivo and in vitro
• Plants: Unitary organisms emerging from integration and self-organization of modules
• Ecology: Ecosystems and biodiversity
• Ultimate Integration
• Emergent properties and stability in hierarchical bio-systems: there is no privileged level of causation
• Emergence and sustainment of humankind on Earth: the categorical imperative
• Gaia - a holobiont-like system emerging from interaction.