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Hubble telescope photograph of stars, galaxies, and nebulae

Quote of the Week
(July 28, 2025)

Whatever the level we analyze, from macromolecular complexes, to organelles, to cells, to tissues, to individual organs, to the organism as a whole, we find the same principle: we cannot reconstruct the pattern at any level of activity by starting from parts and their interactions. There are always organizing principles that must be seen working from the whole into the parts. (See the discussion of Weiss in Chapter 6, “Context: Dare We Call It Holism?”)

(from Chapter 10, “What Is the Problem of Form?”, in Organisms and Their Evolution — Agency and Meaning in the Drama of Life)

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