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Complexity in Ecological Systems
Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life
Why are living things alive? As a theoretical biologist, Robert Rosen saw this as the most fundamental of all questions-and yet it had never been answered satisfactorily by science. The answers to this question would allow humanity to make an enormous leap forward in our understanding of the principles at work in our world.
For centuries, it was believed that the only scientific approach to the question "What is life?" must proceed from the Cartesian metaphor (organism as machine). Classical approaches in science, which also borrow heavily from Newtonian mechanics, are based on a process called "reductionism." The thinking was that we can better learn about an intricate, complicated system (like an organism) if we take it apart, study the components, and then reconstruct the system-thereby gaining an understanding of the whole.
However, Rosen argues that reductionism does not work in biology and ignores the complexity of organisms. Life Itself , a landmark work, represents the scientific and intellectual journey that led Rosen to question reductionism and develop new scientific approaches to understanding the nature of life. Ultimately, Rosen proposes an answer to the original question about the causal basis of life in organisms. He asserts that renouncing the mechanistic and reductionistic paradigm does not mean abandoning science. Instead, Rosen offers an alternate paradigm for science that takes into account the relational impacts of organization in natural systems and is based on organized matter rather than on particulate matter alone.
Central to Rosen's work is the idea of a "complex system," defined as any system that cannot be fully understood by reducing it to its parts. In this sense, complexity refers to the causal impact of organization on the system as a whole. Since both the atom and the organism can be seen to fit that description, Rosen asserts that complex organization is a general feature not just of the biosphere on Earth-but of the universe itself.
For centuries, it was believed that the only scientific approach to the question "What is life?" must proceed from the Cartesian metaphor (organism as machine). Classical approaches in science, which also borrow heavily from Newtonian mechanics, are based on a process called "reductionism." The thinking was that we can better learn about an intricate, complicated system (like an organism) if we take it apart, study the components, and then reconstruct the system-thereby gaining an understanding of the whole.
However, Rosen argues that reductionism does not work in biology and ignores the complexity of organisms. Life Itself , a landmark work, represents the scientific and intellectual journey that led Rosen to question reductionism and develop new scientific approaches to understanding the nature of life. Ultimately, Rosen proposes an answer to the original question about the causal basis of life in organisms. He asserts that renouncing the mechanistic and reductionistic paradigm does not mean abandoning science. Instead, Rosen offers an alternate paradigm for science that takes into account the relational impacts of organization in natural systems and is based on organized matter rather than on particulate matter alone.
Central to Rosen's work is the idea of a "complex system," defined as any system that cannot be fully understood by reducing it to its parts. In this sense, complexity refers to the causal impact of organization on the system as a whole. Since both the atom and the organism can be seen to fit that description, Rosen asserts that complex organization is a general feature not just of the biosphere on Earth-but of the universe itself.
285 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 21, 2016
To pose the question of life, wrote Robert Rosen, “requires an almost infinite audacity”; moreover, “to strive to answer it compels an equal humility.” And so it is that Life Itself, the crowning achievement of Rosen’s lifelong engagement with biology, straddles the line between the two in an effort as breathtaking as it is monumental. Indeed, as Rosen brilliantly demonstrates, to even approach the question ‘what is life?’ requires a rethinking not just of the foundations of biology – foundations which have hitherto dismissed such questions as unscientific – but of the very scope of physics and, in its wake, the entire scientific enterprise along with it.
Such then, is the undertaking embarked upon here, one pursued with both mathematical precision and rhetorical grandeur. I don’t invoke mathematics as a metaphor by the way – as a mathematically trained biophysicist, Rosen frequently turns to the world of mathematics – abstract algebra, number theory, general topology and category theory in particular – to shore up and strictly define the many extraordinary claims put forth within. This doesn’t make for easy reading, but when coupled with Rosen’s tremendous powers of articulation and clear-eyed grasp of the conceptual issues involved, what it makes for instead is decidedly necessary reading.
While the appeal to math might seem strange in a book about life, the key lies in Rosen’s particular epistemology. For Rosen, mathematical formalisms, with their machinery of inferential entailments, allow us to do nothing less than model or otherwise mirror the causal entailments of systems found in nature. This mirroring of entailments, inferential on the one hand and causal on the other, enables Rosen to make some very precise observations about the types of entailment structures attributed to nature by contemporary science. As it turns out, nature – and life in particular – simply exhibit structures of entailment far richer than can be captured by the relatively impoverished formalisms so far employed by modern day science.
Summarized thusly, it’s hard to appreciate the momentous shift in thinking that such an insight calls for – let alone the myriad of ramifications thereby entailed. Yet among the singular virtues of Life Itself is its proffering of new mathematical, scientific and conceptual tools by which to break out of the deadlocks faced by science in the light of the living. So tightly crafted is Rosen’s narrative - which unfolds with the tension of a detective story – that the answer to the question of life almost seems to just ‘fall out’ of Rosen’s wide ranging discussions into causality, complexity, modeling, and just about any area of interest to those with a stake in the future of science and - why not? - philosophy. As for that answer itself, well – you’ll just have to read the book.
Such then, is the undertaking embarked upon here, one pursued with both mathematical precision and rhetorical grandeur. I don’t invoke mathematics as a metaphor by the way – as a mathematically trained biophysicist, Rosen frequently turns to the world of mathematics – abstract algebra, number theory, general topology and category theory in particular – to shore up and strictly define the many extraordinary claims put forth within. This doesn’t make for easy reading, but when coupled with Rosen’s tremendous powers of articulation and clear-eyed grasp of the conceptual issues involved, what it makes for instead is decidedly necessary reading.
While the appeal to math might seem strange in a book about life, the key lies in Rosen’s particular epistemology. For Rosen, mathematical formalisms, with their machinery of inferential entailments, allow us to do nothing less than model or otherwise mirror the causal entailments of systems found in nature. This mirroring of entailments, inferential on the one hand and causal on the other, enables Rosen to make some very precise observations about the types of entailment structures attributed to nature by contemporary science. As it turns out, nature – and life in particular – simply exhibit structures of entailment far richer than can be captured by the relatively impoverished formalisms so far employed by modern day science.
Summarized thusly, it’s hard to appreciate the momentous shift in thinking that such an insight calls for – let alone the myriad of ramifications thereby entailed. Yet among the singular virtues of Life Itself is its proffering of new mathematical, scientific and conceptual tools by which to break out of the deadlocks faced by science in the light of the living. So tightly crafted is Rosen’s narrative - which unfolds with the tension of a detective story – that the answer to the question of life almost seems to just ‘fall out’ of Rosen’s wide ranging discussions into causality, complexity, modeling, and just about any area of interest to those with a stake in the future of science and - why not? - philosophy. As for that answer itself, well – you’ll just have to read the book.
October 2, 2021
First third of the book is a brilliant exposition of how/why physics "works". Second third of the book is an intro to Category Theory and the final third of the book completes the argument for why physics is the wrong substrate for understanding complexity as is always there in biology/life. To be honest, I don't fully grok the argument for category theory itself and likely need to read an intro to Category Theory someplace else to really get it. I overall buy the argument for alternative modeling approaches (honestly I can't articulate it as well but I feel the book's argument is not very far saying that having a neural-network modeling the relational function between entities should be fine for scientific models) But would recommend even just for the first third of the book!
May 2, 2013
Not easy to follow, but full of very deep insights about biology and its place within the mechanicist paradigm of science.
I confess I haven't finished it, but it really deserves patient and careful reading as well as reflection.
For very similar ideas read Varela and Maturana books on the concept of Autopoiesis and the unsuitability of the machine metaphor when applied to living beings.
I confess I haven't finished it, but it really deserves patient and careful reading as well as reflection.
For very similar ideas read Varela and Maturana books on the concept of Autopoiesis and the unsuitability of the machine metaphor when applied to living beings.
Currently reading
September 23, 2014Challenges the current approach to biology that assumes that we can essentially be described as machines. He says that from the beginning that will exclude some considerations and cripple our understanding and inquiry. For a free taste read the "Note to Reader" which is available on the Amazon page when you click 'Look Inside'.
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March 11, 2016Ground breaking and thought provoking. A paradigm shift in the way we think about life and our notions of past, present and future.
February 16, 2022
So this book is 95% math and equations. If you are already an accomplished biologist or scientist, then this book is for you. If you are a layman or just curious, I wouldn’t go out of your way to read this. As really the whole book should have been the first and last chapters.
The author writes like a professor giving a lesson. Which is great except you can’t stop him and ask a question to clarify. His attempts to self clarify never made things any clearer for me. The last chapter was really all you need to read to get to the point. Everything before it was him mathematically proving his points. Which is great! Except extremely boring. Most of it could have just been stated and agreed through critical thinking by the reader. It was neat to see the math behind it but people don’t think like that in reality.
The last chapter was great though. Overall, the question of “what is life” needs to be answered and while to me, his answer seems more like vitalism without saying that’s what it is, it is still an interesting idea.
The author writes like a professor giving a lesson. Which is great except you can’t stop him and ask a question to clarify. His attempts to self clarify never made things any clearer for me. The last chapter was really all you need to read to get to the point. Everything before it was him mathematically proving his points. Which is great! Except extremely boring. Most of it could have just been stated and agreed through critical thinking by the reader. It was neat to see the math behind it but people don’t think like that in reality.
The last chapter was great though. Overall, the question of “what is life” needs to be answered and while to me, his answer seems more like vitalism without saying that’s what it is, it is still an interesting idea.
February 4, 2021
Another day, another book left unfinished. This time I made it about halfway before boredom set it.
I picked up Life Itself wanting to know more about complexity in ecological systems. What I got (up until halfway in) was a deep mathematical investigation into the scientific method and its flaws, and recursion in the context of knowledge acquisition.
A substantial affinity for mathematics is a pre-requisite for this book but, even then, it might not be for you. I get the sense that those who like it will love it but most, like me, will be lost, confused, and wondering what the fuck the author is going on about and what the point of all those words are.
You have been warned.
I picked up Life Itself wanting to know more about complexity in ecological systems. What I got (up until halfway in) was a deep mathematical investigation into the scientific method and its flaws, and recursion in the context of knowledge acquisition.
A substantial affinity for mathematics is a pre-requisite for this book but, even then, it might not be for you. I get the sense that those who like it will love it but most, like me, will be lost, confused, and wondering what the fuck the author is going on about and what the point of all those words are.
You have been warned.
December 13, 2019
A very good introduction to what could be called theoretical biology by my former graduate school professor. A bit too mathematical in its build up and a bit minimal in its application of that mathematics to biology but provocative and thought provoking nonetheless. Well written and logically presented.
December 22, 2021
Really tough, incredibly interesting read. I'm not 100% convinced of Rosen's points due to what feel like pretty old school epistemological underpinnings but still reading this definitely expanded my thinking in nice ways.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews