Epigenetics, Thermodynamics, and the Emergence of Biological Organization (original) (raw)
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Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 2012
This article compares two different bodies of theories concerning the role of the genome in life processes. The first group of theories can be indicated as referring to the gene-centric paradigm. Dominated by an informational myth and a mechanistic Cartesian body/mind and form/substance dualism, this considers the genome as an ensemble of discrete units of information governing human body and behavior, and remains hegemonic in life sciences and in the public imagination. The second body of theories employs the principle of the extraordinary plasticity of the (body-)organism and emphasizes the value of the (body-)organism-environment mutual interchange, known as 'the epigenetic approach'. This approach is outlined, showing a gradual, paradigmatic shift from the genecentric towards an epigenetic approach can be observed in the 'scientific landscape' over the last 20 years. The article concludes by formulating the argument that this 'epigenetic turn' in life sciences has some important implication for renewing epistemological basis of social sciences.
Ukrainian Biochemical Journal, 2020
The brilliant book "What is life? The Physical aspect of the living Cell" authored by the prominent Nobel Prize-winning austrian physicist erwin Schrödinger became a successful attempt to bridge the gap between physics and biology. The philosophical thought of one of the founders of quantum mechanics inspired him to look closer at the enigma of life through the lens of quantum physics. a prominent physicist was focused on the thermodynamics of the living organisms and the nature of heredity. Schrödinger introduced the concept and notion of "negative entropy", suggested the idea of a genetic code and argued that the genetic material had to have a non-repetitive molecular structure. He considered a molecule as a solid-aperiodic crystal that forms the hereditary substance. Despite the fact that his book provoked different interpretations and his ideas were modified by later scientific development, it was Schrödinger who paved the way for the future research of genes: his book inspired the next generation of scientists to look for a secret life code, which was eventually found. His outstanding writing is still one of the most profound introductions into the subject and raises new questions. Schrödinger's genius reshapes our view on the nature and essence of life creating a launching pad for the new transdisciplinary paradigm, which can contribute to the development of a unified theory of everything in the spirit of Schrödinger's philosophy. K e y w o r d s: Erwin Schrödinger, Schrödinger equation, Schrödinger's cat paradox, quantum theory, negative entropy, code-script.
Special Issue 'Sketches for a conceptual history of epigenesis'
Hist. and Phil. of the Life Sciences
This is an introduction to a collection of articles on the conceptual history of epigenesis, from Aristotle to Harvey, Cavendish, Kant and Erasmus Darwin, moving into nineteenth-century biology with Wolff, Blumenbach and His, and onto the twentieth century and current issues, with Waddington and epigenetics. The purpose of the topical collection is to emphasize how epigenesis marks the point of intersection of a theory of biological development and a (philosophical) theory of active matter. We also wish to show that the concept of epigenesis existed prior to biological theorization and that it continues to permeate thinking about development in recent biological debates
Erwin Schroedinger, Francis Crick and epigenetic stability
Biology Direct, 2007
Schroedinger's book 'What is Life?' is widely credited for having played a crucial role in development of molecular and cellular biology. My essay revisits the issues raised by this book from the modern perspective of epigenetics and systems biology. I contrast two classes of potential mechanisms of epigenetic stability: 'epigenetic templating' and 'systems biology' approaches, and consider them from the point of view expressed by Schroedinger. I also discuss how quantum entanglement, a nonclassical feature of quantum mechanics, can help to address the 'problem of small numbers' that led Schroedinger to promote the idea of a molecular code-script for explaining the stability of biological order.
Why Biology is Beyond Physical Sciences
In the framework of materialism, the major attention is to find general organizational laws stimulated by physical sciences, ignoring the uniqueness of Life. The main goal of materialism is to reduce consciousness to natural processes, which in turn can be translated into the language of math, physics and chemistry. Following this approach, scientists have made several attempts to deny the living organism of its veracity as an immortal soul, in favor of genes, molecules, atoms and so on. However, advancement in various fields of biology has repeatedly given rise to questions against such a denial and has supplied more and more evidence against the completely misleading ideological imposition that living entities are particular states of matter. In the recent past, however, the realization has arisen that cognitive nature of life at all levels has begun presenting significant challenges to the views of materialism in biology and has created a more receptive environment for the soul hypothesis. Therefore, instead of adjudicating different aprioristic claims, the development of an authentic theory of biology needs both proper scientific knowledge and the appropriate tools of philosophical analysis of life. In a recently published paper the first author of present essay made an attempt to highlight a few relevant developments supporting a sentient view of life in scientific research, which has caused a paradigm shift in our understanding of life and its origin [1]. The present essay highlights the uniqueness of biological systems that offers a considerable challenge to the mainstream materialism in biology and proposes the Vedāntic philosophical view as a viable alternative for development of a biological theory worthy of life.
The Impasse of Encompassing Modern Biological Theories
PONTE International Scientific Researchs Journal, 2018
Within scholarly disciplines the use of concepts is usually embedded in a theoretical view of reality. The latter hides the problem of what is given in an ontic sense or viewed as theoretical constructs. Particularly in respect of living entities there is a general tendency not to distinguish between the multi-faceted nature of living entities and the biotic function of such entities. Leading neo-Darwinian biologists do realize that since molecules are not alive it is mistaken to speak about "molecular biology." This fact motivated the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, to publish a work on the physical aspect of the cell. He explained the apparent mysterious ability of living entities to increase biotic order within themselves by showing that organisms feed on negative entropy. Von Bertalanffy generalized the second main law of thermodynamics to open systems in order to account for the dynamic "Fliessgleichgewicht" (flowing equilibrium) found in living entities. With reference to the nucleoplasmic index a few remarks are made in respect of the quantitative, spatial and kinematic properties of a cell. These remarks depend upon an insight into the modal universality of the various aspects of reality. It also opens the way to distinguish between modal (aspectual) laws and type laws-where the former hold for all classes of entities with the latter only for a limited class of entities. The big bang theory presupposes the first two laws of physics as well as the irreducibility of number, space, movement and energy-operation as modes of explanation. These laws render the attempt of Hawking to argue that the law of gravity would create the universe meaningless-illustrated by a brief analysis of the law of gravity. This raises the question if physical entities, such as atoms, molecules and macro-molecules, can account for the origin of living entities. Dobzhansky considers the origin of "life" and of "man" as two crises in the "flow of evolutionary events." Pierre Durand recently claims that the problem of the "origin of life" is solved by explaining it through the accidental formation of RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) strings. However, since living entities require proteins and nucleic acid (DNA), the assumption is that initially protein and DNA had to be present at once. The vicious circle is that without nucleic acids (DNA) the cell lacks the ability to construct proteins and without proteins the cell cannot function as a living unit. Invoking the idea of millions of years does not help, because the truly critical point is condensed into a unique, abrupt moment: before a specific moment the constellation was still non-living and the next moment it became alive. Von Bertalanffy ridicules the physicalist idea that molecules could be alive when he states that one DNA molecule, protein, enzyme or hormonal process is as good as another; each is determined by