Biology Revisioned

by Willis Harman

This book examines several theories of new biology by adding new tools to the current definition and a moderately holistic outlook--and also focuses on an even more radical holistic view which assumes... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556432674
• ISBN13: 9781556432675
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

"As above, so below"...as never before.

In this remarkable book, two great biologists hold a speculative conversation about the true nature of "life, the universe, and everything," and you get to eavesdrop. Your world view will never be the same. Following in the tradition of James Lovelock and Lyn Margulis, the late Willis Harman and his protege Elizabet Sahtouris here take Gaia Theory (the notion that our planet is a superorganism not merely hosting life, but in itself alive) to its next logical extension. Gaia, this duo speculates, is conscious. Indeed, they postulate that not only is Gaia conscious, but every level of life is conscious. From the atomic components of each cell in your body to the unimaginable vast Body of which Gaia herself is only one cell, all...All...ALL is conscious. The adage, "As above, so below" has never had more compelling meaning. Harman and Sahroutis base their logical groundwork on a concept of all being organized into holons (identity units) which are part of a larger holarchy (complex of identity units). Holons, say these two, take their purpose from the holarchy in which they are embedded, and take their ability from the holons which are embedded within them. Thus, your liver exists to serve your body, and draws its capacities from the health of its individual cells. Take this concept outward to Gaia--nay, to the penultimate Cosmos--and you may find, as I do, profound spiritual implications. You will also understand why these two respected scientists had to present this book as a speculative conversation. Pushing the outer edges of thought, challenging academia's entrenched mindset, is professionally risky. But Sahtouris has no less a motive than the saving of the planet. She holds that only by understanding what We are, can we save Ourselves from physical destruction. With the greatest of delight, I recommend this book to your consciousness.