Geschichte und Gegenwart des organismischen Denkens in der Biologie

Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2022, 2022, P.5-69 | DOI: 10.18756/jfg.2022.5

Abstract:

Summary

    Throughout the history of biology, there have always been two opposing basic views of life. The one view tried to attribute the processes of life to mechanistic, physical-chemical principles.                                                                       Rejecting this view, the other one tried to find forces or principles which only belong to the living and is summarized as vitalism. Since both approaches have fundamental problems of explanation, a third view has developed since about 1900 that seeks to avoid the limitations and difficulties of the other two views. It is called organismic biology or organicism. Although the organismic approaches are quite heterogeneous, they all have in common that they search for specific properties of the living that can be scientifically described and investigated without resorting to postulated presuppositions, forces, or principles. This essay first describes the history of mechanistic thinking in biology and its vitalistic counterparts. Then 3 phases of organismic thinking are outlined, whereas the 3rd phase characterizes current developments. It is shown that organismic concepts and views can contribute to a solution of the question of life, which would have considerable practical consequences.

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