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SPECIES AS PROCESSES. “Another common complaint is that species have very fuzzy boundaries, whereas individuals typically do not. Interestingly, once we see species not just as individuals, but as individual processes, we are able to address both of these concerns.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

WIDELY APPLICABLE. “Metabolic turnover, life cycles, and ecological interdependence—to mention the three phenomena we have discussed here in most detail—all provide compelling empirical motivations for adopting a process ontology in biology.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

SUBSTANCE VERSUS PHENOMENA. “Every science has progressed beyond an initial conception of its phenomena in substance terms to understanding that they are in fact process phenomena. Fire is no longer modeled in terms of the substance phlogiston, but instead in terms of the process of combustion; heat no longer in terms of caloric, but in terms of random kinetic processes; life no longer in terms of vital fluids, but in terms of special kinds of far from thermodynamic equilibrium processes. And so on.“ (Bickhard 2009). https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

THE LEADERSHIP OF PHYSICS. “It is interesting to observe that physics, which has traditionally been regarded as the more advanced science, was pushed towards process ontology about a century ago (as was argued by Whitehead and others), and now biology—if we and the other contributors to this volume are correct—is following suit. Might this perhaps be an indication that the shift from substantialism to processualism is just something that all sciences go through as they develop?” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

PROCESS ONTOLOGY. “Our argument in this essay has been that process ontology is far more concordant with the understanding of the living world provided by contemporary biology than its substantialist rival. The more we learn about life, the more necessary a process perspective becomes. This is particularly the case with regard to the increasing realization of the omnipresence of symbiosis, which directly challenges deeply entrenched substantialist assumptions about the living world. Thus the empirical findings of biology are inexorably driving us towards processualism, even if it is less intuitive than substantialism.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

THE TRICKY QUESTION OF TIME. “But, although it might seem more intuitive to regard organisms as things than as processes, the situation quickly begins to reverse when we start giving due consideration to time.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

NO DOG COLLAR. “We believe that being explicit about the metaphysical stance one takes to be right for biology is crucial if we are to prevent what Whitehead described as the ‘canalization of thought and observation within predetermined limits, based upon inadequate metaphysical assumptions dogmatically assumed’. Our aim in this essay has been to defend the metaphysical thesis that a process ontology is the right ontology for the living world.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

PATHOLOGICAL PROCESS. “To attribute pathogenicity to an individual microbe is to commit an indefensible act of abstraction, as it implies ignoring the complex processual context that makes it possible. A microbe is not a thing or a substance, and pathogenicity is not an unchanging property that the microbe carries with it like an essence; it is rather a process, and as such it is to be expected that its characteristics will be found to be transient, context-dependent, historically contingent, and ever subject to ecological and evolutionary changes.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

NEW THINKING. “The above considerations strongly suggest that there are no definite criteria by which we can unequivocally classify a particular microbe as a pathogen.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn

MULTIPLE CONTEXTUAL ROLES. “Conversely, microbes that are usually pathogenic can end up protecting their host against more virulent parasites. Virulence itself, which refers to the degree of damage a pathogen is capable of inflicting on its host, is not a permanent property of the pathogen; it is arguably not even a property of the pathogen, but rather the outcome of a specific kind of interaction between the pathogen and its host.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn