Neuman Reviving the Living

Meaning Making in Living Systems
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-08-056041-0
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Web PDF

Reviving the Living: Meaning Making in Living Systems presents a novel perspective that relates to current biological knowledge and issues. Written by polymath Dr. Yair Neuman, the book challenges the dogmas that frame our understanding of living systems and presents a radical alternative approach to understanding the world around us, one that avoids the pitfalls of non-scientific perspectives such as Vitalism and Creationism. In this thought provoking and iconoclastic manuscript, Neuman follows the footsteps of Gregory Bateson, Mikhail Bakhtin, Michael Polanyi and others, to suggest that living systems are meaning making systems. The book delves into the unique processes of meaning making that characterize organisms as a unique category of nature, and offers new and fascinating insights into a variety of enigmatic biological phenomena from immune memory to hidden life (cryptobiosis). It consists of four parts divided into 18 chapters and covers topics ranging from reductionism and its pitfalls to genetics; why organisms are irreducible; immunology; meaning making in language and biology; meaning-bridging the gap between physics and semantics; context and memory; and the poetry of living. Core concepts and themes are illustrated using examples based in current science. This text would be of high interest to biologists, philosophers, cognitive scientists, psychologists, and semioticians, as well as to any reflective individual who is willing to examine the realm of the living from a novel and fascinating perspective.* Presents a novel perspective that relates to current biological knowledge and issues
* Poses thought provoking ideas for theoretical biologists, those studying philosophy of science and the mind, cognitive scientists, semioticians, and people involved with Artificial Intelligence.
* Includes examples based in current science to illustrate core concepts and themes

Autoren/Hrsg.

Neuman, Yair

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Cover;1
2;Series Dedication;6
3;Acknowledgments;8
4;Dedication;10
5;Preface;12
6;Prologue;16
7;Table of Contents;24
8;Part 1. How Low Can You Go? Reductionism and its Limitations;32
8.1;Chapter 1. What is Reductionism?;36
8.2;Cat-logue 1;42
8.3;Chapter 2. Who is Reading the Book of Life?;46
8.4;Chapter 3. Genetics: From Grammar to Meaning Making;50
8.4.1;1. The Complementarity of Syntax and Pragmatics;51
8.4.2;2. Is DNA a Language?;53
8.4.3;3. From Sequence to Function;56
8.4.4;4. Proteins: When Complexity Prevails;60
8.4.5;5. The Genetic System: Simple Mapping or a Complex Beehive?;65
8.4.6;6. The Reader’s Role;69
8.4.7;7. Summary and Conclusions;70
8.5;Chapter 4. A Point for Thought: Why are Organisms Irreducible?;72
8.5.1;1. Introduction;72
8.5.2;2. Why Do We Need Signs?;73
8.5.3;3. Life’s Irreducible Structure;74
8.5.4;4. Transcending the View ‘‘From Within’’;76
8.5.5;5. Information as a ‘‘Difference That Makes a Difference’’;79
8.5.6;6. Machines of Oblivion;80
8.5.7;7. Reductionism is Impossible Because We are Irreversible;82
8.5.8;8. The Digital and the Analogical;82
8.5.9;9. Conclusions;83
8.6;Chapter 5. A Point for Thought: Does the Genetic System Include a Meta-Language?;86
8.6.1;1. Introduction;86
8.6.2;2. ‘‘Junk’’ DNA: Is It Really Junk?;87
8.6.3;3. Is Keeping the Junk ‘‘Energetically Favorable’’ to Deletion?;89
8.6.4;4. ncRNAs as a Meta-Language;91
8.6.5;5. The Map and the Territory;92
8.6.6;6. Why Do We Need a Meta-Language?;95
8.6.7;7. Meta-Language is Inevitable;96
8.6.8;8. The Importance of In Between;99
8.6.9;9. Conclusions;100
8.7;Cat-logue 2;102
8.8;Chapter 6. Immunology: From Soldiers to Housewives;106
8.8.1;1. The Innate and the Adaptive;106
8.8.2;2. The Agents of the Specific Immune Response;110
8.8.3;3. Immune Recognition;110
8.9;Chapter 7. A Point for Thought: Immune Specificity and Brancusi’s Kiss;114
8.9.1;Summary;114
8.9.2;1. On Miraculous Drugs and Biological Specificity;114
8.9.3;2. Specificity in Immune Recognition;115
8.9.4;3. Specificity as Meaning Making;116
8.9.5;4. Conclusions;122
8.10;Chapter 8. A Point for Thought: Reflections on the Immune Self;126
8.10.1;Summary;126
8.10.2;1. Introduction;126
8.10.3;2. Danger!;129
8.10.4;3. A Reductionist Explanation of the Immune Self;130
8.10.5;4. Burnet and Saussure;136
8.10.6;5. Jerne and Peirce;139
8.10.7;6. Cohen and Volosinov;143
8.10.8;7. The Nose and the Finger;148
8.10.9;8. The Testes and the Immune Self;151
8.10.10;9. Conclusions;155
8.11;Cat-logue 3;160
9;Part 2. What is the Meaning of this Story?;162
9.1;Chapter 9. Meaning Making in Language and Biology;164
9.1.1;1. Metaphorical Thinking;164
9.1.2;2. Living Systems and Boundary Conditions;166
9.1.3;3. Meaning Making;169
9.1.4;4. Meaning Making, Organization, and Disorganization;170
9.1.5;5. Meaning and Interaction;171
9.1.6;6. Implications;174
9.1.7;7. A Final Comment: ‘‘Let Truth Be Raised Up from the Ground!’’;175
9.2;Chapter 10. God’s Sacred Words;178
9.2.1;1. The ‘‘Book of Life’’ and the Book of Genesis;186
9.3;Chapter 11. It Means Nothing;192
9.3.1;1. Life is Meaning Making;198
9.4;Chapter 12. A Point for Thought: Meaning„Bridging the Gap between Physics and Semantics;202
9.4.1;Summary;202
9.4.2;1. Introduction;202
9.4.3;2. Information: Different Questions Lead to Different Answers;204
9.4.4;3. Information: A ‘‘Naturalistic’’ Perspective;206
9.4.5;4. Interactive Machines;207
9.4.6;5. Maxwell’s Demon;208
9.4.7;6. Measurement as an Invention;211
9.4.8;7. Maxwell’s Demon in a Klein Bottle;212
9.5;Chapter 13. The Rest is Silence;216
9.5.1;1. Wound Healing, Plasticity, and Context;218
9.5.2;2. Epigenesis;219
9.5.3;3. The Rest is Silence;222
9.5.4;4. How Do Biological Systems Know Themselves?;226
10;Part 3. On the wild Side: Four Lessons;230
10.1;Chapter 14. The Polysemy of the Sign: A Quantum Lesson;232
10.1.1;Summary;232
10.1.2;1. Introduction;232
10.1.3;2. Quantum Computing: The Liar and the Truth-Teller;234
10.1.4;3. From the Digital to the Analogue;239
10.1.5;4. Discussion;243
10.2;Chapter 15. Recursive-Hierarchy: A Lesson from the Tardigrade;246
10.2.1;Summary;246
10.2.2;1. Introduction;246
10.2.3;2. Recursive-Hierarchy;249
10.2.4;3. Organization Becomes Cause in Matter;252
10.2.5;4. A Recursive-Hierarchical Metabolism?;253
10.2.6;5. A Lesson from the Physics of Computation;254
10.2.7;6. From the Baron von Münchausen to the Klein Bottle;256
10.3;Chapter 16. Context and Memory: A Lesson from Funes the Memorious;260
10.3.1;Summary;260
10.3.2;1. Introduction: ‘‘Languaging’’ in Context;260
10.3.3;2. Immune Memory;263
10.3.4;3. A Lesson from Funes the Memorious;266
10.3.5;4. Immune Memory and Aging;268
10.3.6;5. Conclusion;269
10.4;Chapter 17. Transgradience: A Lesson from Bakhtin;270
10.4.1;Summary;270
10.4.2;1. Introduction: There is No Alibi in Existence;270
10.4.3;2. Singularity in Language;272
10.4.4;3. Bakhtin on Meaning;276
10.4.5;4. Bateson and the Mind;277
10.4.6;5. The First Law of Human Perception;281
10.4.7;6. We are All Unique but Never Alone;285
10.4.8;7. From the ‘‘I’’ to the Other;285
10.4.9;8. Signs as a Bridge between the ‘‘I’’ and the Other;286
10.4.10;9. Conclusion;287
10.5;Cat-logue 4;288
11;Part 4. From Mechanics to Poiesis;290
11.1;Chapter 18. The Poetry of Living;292
11.2;Cat-logue 5;302
12;References;304
13;Name Index;316
14;Subject Index;318