About Organisms. A Teaser

Abstract

Wolfgang Burgstaller

Organisms are the central research objects in biology. Therefore, we should try to think about the question, what an organism is. The following text is a teaser trying to illuminate this question from the perspective of older authors from the 20th century, but also considering work from the 21th century. Thereby, topics such as the meaning of the term organization, closure to efficient causation and constraints, and the question whether an organism can be regarded more as a thing or more as a process are touched upon.

PDF