Module 1.

PERSPECTIVES ON LIVING SYSTEMS

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to SCIENCE 11, Living Systems: Concepts and Dynamics. This

semester, we shall embark on a journey that will give us a glimpse of the

intriguing concept that is Life.

This course will take us from the energy and matter from our environment

and how they become part of the molecules that make up our smallest cells. We

shall study how cells organize into tissues, organs, and organisms. We shall

then look at how organisms relate to each other as populations and ecosystems,

and how all of these affect us, human society, and how human society affects

these in turn. We offer this course in order to introduce you to the world of Living

Systems seen from the eyes of a Biologist, and to give you insights on how you

can take your place in living mindfully and meaningfully, aware of the effects and

ramifications of the choices that you make in school, in your chosen profession,

and in everyday life.

Science 11 may look a lot like your high school Biology class, and to a

certain extent, it is. We will be reviewing a lot of what you have studied in High

School, but with a new twist: we will look at them from a complex systems

perspective. As you will see later, this perspective is both as old as antiquity

and as new as cutting-edge Science of the 21 st Century.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, you would have:

1. explored biocultural expressions of knowledge on living systems (7.3)

2. gained an appreciation of the changing paradigms about living systems

from antiquity to the Rennaissance (7.4)

3. reviewed the content of High School Biology in the context of the History

of Biology (7.5)

4. gained a substantive introduction to Science 11.

7.3. LIVING SYSTEMS IN ORAL TRADITIONS

In your High School science classes, you have studied Biology concepts

and principles that operate within the physicality and materiality of living systems.

However, our appreciation of living systems has not always been thus. Indeed,

Biology reflects our efforts to answer questions we humans have asked since

time immemorial, and how we figured out means of answering them, and the

answers we have given. Questions such as: where have we come from? what is

our relationship to the world around us? Answers to these questions guide how

we perceive our selves and our place in the world, and how we should act in

accordance to the order that we see in our environment.

Let us go back to the age when learning something new entailed more

than opening a book or connecting to the Internet. When there were no books, in

fact, there was no written word. Let us go back to the tribes of our ancestors, to

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times long, long ago, and ask: How did our ancestors understand Living Systems

during their time? And how do we know them now?

From the dawn of humanity, we humans have been dependent on our

immediate environment for all of our needs: for water, food, shelter, and clothing.

An intimate knowledge of our environment, gained through systematic

observations, was a matter of life and death for an individual and the tribe. It is

equally important to share and pass on this knowledge to the next generation.

With the absence of writing, this knowledge was transmitted orally,

through telling of stories, chanting and music, and the creation of visual arts. It is

also transmitted experientially, through direct teaching of the younger

generations in hunting and gathering expeditions, and by experiencing living

systems both physically and metaphorically in nature walks, rituals, and dream

journeys.

Elders are esteemed for their knowledge, and the knowledgeable among

them are required to perform special roles. The Storyteller, with the ability to tell

stories in a memorable, engaging way, performs an important teaching function

in the life of a tribe; for stories, myths, and legends are the means by which

experiences of the tribe, especially of catastrophic events, are recorded and

stored. The Hunter, whose knowledge of wildlife, capacity to read the slightest of

signs, and the capability to create tools and weapons, teach the knowledge of the

environment without words; the same holds true for the Gatherer, who has

knowledge of fruits, animals, and herbs and their uses; and the Farmer, who has

knowledge of the seasons and the signs of the wind and sky. All have a role to

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play in the creation, recording, and teaching of knowledge for the survival of the

group.

In these myths, legends, folklore, art, and in all their activities, the the tribe

communicates their holistic appreciation of their place in the living system:

“(T)he natural world - the land, plants, animals, seasons and cycles of

nature - has been a central tenet of their lives and worldviews since the

dawn of time. Their understanding of the natural world is sophisticated and

comprehensive… (It) is not viewed as a separate entity but one,

interconnected aspect of the whole. This interconnectedness equates to a

moral responsibility to care for, live in harmony with, and respect the

natural world.”1

7.3.1. Indigenous Knowledge, Systems, and Practices

Myths and legends and folklore are a part of what we call Indigenous

Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP). These are traditional knowledges are

passed on through traditional means for many many generations. A product of

careful and methodologically sound observations of the natural world, IKSPs

have been tested and re-tested for thousands of years in the most rigorous real-

life laboratories for survival and well-being. This knowledge affect not only their

forms of art and oral literature but includes all aspects of life: from knowledge of

geography and climate that allow them to “read” signs from nature -- the wind,

animal behavior, and the appearance of indicator plants’ leaves and flowers -- to

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predict future environmental conditions as accurately as any barometer or

weather gauge. This has allowed them to create many inventions and

technologies that relate to domestication of food, storage and preparation;

herbal-based medicines; forms of clothing and transportation; astronomy;

sustainable agricultural and industrial practices, etc.

The intimate knowledge of the interplay among elements in the local living

systems give rise to many applications which have been validated by indigenous

knowledge systems as well as modern scientific methods. This knowledge is

called biocultural knowledge: knowledge that is rooted both in the natural

environment and what is readily available, at the same time grounded on the

culture – values and norms -- of the people who hold it.

Required Reading:

In this link, you will find the UNESCO online course on Teaching and Learning for

a Sustainable Future:

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html?panel=1#top

Do click on the tab 1and read the four case studies by clicking on the blue

hyperlinks, namely:

A SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LAND

NATURAL REMEDIES AND MEDICINES

SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

The following table gives a few examples of the many forms of traditional

knowledge that have proven their validity and relevance up to the present:

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Table 7.1. Examples of IKSP, with special emphasis on Philippine IKSP, that have
been verified by scientific studies
Type of IK Example

IK commercial The Hoodia plant is a case in the successful commercialization of traditional

utilization knowledge of the San people of South Africa. Its active ingredient for
appetite suppression was patented by a South Africa-based research
institute in coordination with the San people, and is now being used to help
patients with obesity.

Medicinal 1. The DOH approved ten medicinal plants used in Philippine Traditional
Plants Medicine after undergoing clinical studies. This blogsite for registered nurses
identifies the plants and how to use them.

2. The book “The Best 100 Philippine Medicinal Plants Jaime Z. Galvez Tan
and Isidro Sia (2014)” presents 100 medicinal plants that are traditionally
used for different ailments. The link connects to a slideshow of a number of
those plants.

3. This research article by Xin-zhuan Su and Miller (2015) details the

discovery of artemisinin, extracted from an herb identified by ancient Chinese
healing texts, for the treatment of Malaria. This discovery led to a Nobel
Prize in 2015.

Traditional Suob is a Philippine Traditional practice used during pregnancy and

health practices postnatal care. This site explains the process and materials used for Suob.
Suob is similar to steaming and mother-roasting practices in other SEA
cultures, for which there is already some published research (read only the
background of the study)

Traditional Philippine cultural concepts have some implications to genetic counseling.

Knowledge on These concepts, identified by Abad et al (2014) include namamana, lihi,
genetics sumpa, kaloob ng Diyos, among others.

Traditional This web news article (Coates, 2015) mentions the need to revive old
Knowledge and farming practices and traditional crop varieties in order to ensure food
Food Security security: Traditional knowledge the key to food security: academics say.

Biodiversity 1. Araral (2008), in his article What can institutional analysis tell us about
management long lived societies? The case of the 2000 year old Ifugao society. (in p. 17)
relates how traditional rice cultivation practices by the Ifugao require the use
of different rice varieties for several reasons. This is a means by which
biodiversity in rice is conserved.

2. Traditional rice cultivation practices of the B’laan, T’boli, and Subanen

indigenous communities maintain and protect biodiversity in the area. “The
B’laan ethnic group of the south has more than 100 varieties of rice and the

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 T’boli group has 160 known rice varieties. To further exemplify the type of
rice varieties, Sumingit (2005) presents details of the characteristics of at
least 38 varieties of rice among the Subanen seed keepers.”

Sustainable Tebtebba Foundation (2010) relate traditional forest practices of the Ifugao,
Resource Masadiit people of the Northern Luzon, indigenous peoples of Abra,
Management communities in the Mt. Province, and the Talaandig of Mindanao as
examples of how indigenous peoples take care to maintain their resources
for the future generations.

Threats to 1. Threats to rice terrace ecosystem: Araral (2008) p. 23 narrates how the
Living Systems introduction of modern rice farming practices lead to threats to rice terraces
stability.

2. Traditional knowledge of extreme events were able to guide communities

in Simeulue Island to seek safety from a tsunami in 2004.

7.4. LIVING SYSTEMS FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE RENNAISSANCE

It was not only in indigenous cultural communities that subscribed to the

holistic worldview. The earliest material evidence in civilizations that used the

written word showed that societies kept track of their livestock and grains, made

bread, wine, and cheese, and recorded astronomical data in order to keep time

and predict the weather. However, the need for myths and legends were still

strong, as heavenly bodies were still attributed to gods. The human connection

to the gods – the Priestly Class – were the sole interpreters of the gods’ desires,

sauch that, they had exclusive access to the stored knowledge and they were the

only ones authorized to interpret them. Thus, knowledge was in the hands of the

priests and they controlled much political power, including the surplus production.

What is noteworthy is the invention of the written word and its relationship

to knowledge production, transmission, and storage. Whereas in oral cutures,

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the Storyteller was the keeper of knowledge, in literate cultures, knowledge was

stored and thus transmitted through the clay tablets of the Sumerians, the

papyrus scrolls of the Egyptians, the bamboo, bone or wood of the early East

Asians, the animal hide of the Mayans, the wax tablets of the Romans, the

parchment that pervaded most of medieval Europe, and the paper that held the

records of the Chinese empire and copies of the Qur’an.

It follows that literacy allowed for the expansion of collective knowledge

beyond the Storytellers’ collective memories, however well developed those

memories were. It allowed for the development of more complicated trains of

logic, of more abstraction and thus analytical knowledge, reflection and

introspection, which were very difficult to keep track of in story, song, or art.

7.4.1. Sumerians and their Knowledge of Biology (4500 – 1750 BCE)

The knowledge held by the Sumerians was kept in clay tablets written in

cuneiform. The Sumerians were faithful in their recording of the medical lore of

their time, particularly in the treatment of disease, the use of herbs and animal

material as materia medica, dentistry, endocrinology, histology, health and

sanitation, among many other subjects.

The Sumerian belief system encompassed both empirical and the

magical, for example, in the treatment of disease. Some diseases were

attributed to demon possession, and it was believed that the sacrifice of animals

would cure this possession through the transmission of the demon from the

afflicted person to the lamb as a sign of compassion to the family. Historians of

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Science argue that these early attempts at explaining causes can be considered

scientific, to wit:

“While this may seem laughable in light of today’s learning, the “demon”

idea really was scientifically sound – in this sense: In the absence of a

scientific canon, all ancient civilizations sought to fathom the workings of

the universe in some other manner. Very often, they attributed

commonplace events to demons, witches, and so forth… They were

speculating in a theoretical manner, and the demon supposition was at

least an attempt to explain the transmission of illness.” (Serafini, 2013)

7.4.2. Greek Philosophers and their Theories (800 – 300 BCE)

The History of Biology usually traces the beginnings of abstract scientific

thought to the Greek Philosophers. The written transcripts of the lectures of

these learned men being transmitted through the years by translators and scribes

from the Roman times, then transmitted by the Islamic translators and scribes,

and the Christian monks and learned men. The reasons for expanding this effort

through the centuries is clear: the legacy of Greek philosophical inquiry

resonated with the most important questions of human existence: What is Man?

What is the world? These men of learning were not connected to the priesthood

but rather affianced to the political powers of the time.

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 7.4A. ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY: On the shoulders of Giants.

It is not just the tracing of history of human perceptions of living systems that makes a
short study of the Greek philosophies relevant. Greek mythology has a metaphor on
which the blind giant Orion carried a dwarf servant on his shoulders to act as his eyes.
Newton alludes to this in a letter in 1676, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the
sholders of Giants.” Indeed, natural philosophy might have taken a different turn without
the benefit of the exegesis of these early Greek philosophers.

1. Read the following article which contains a summary of Greek scientific thought,
specially in regard to Biology (Puglia, 1980):

The Origin of Life: A history of Ancient Greek Theories

Contrast the theories on the origin of life by the Atomists and Aristotle: what
observations and reasoning was behind an early view of evolution? essentialism?

2. To futher clarify this unit on Greek philosophers, watch this video lecture about the
Aristotelian Scientific Mosaic:

HPS100 Lecture 07: Aristotelian-Medieval Worldview (36:49 – 49:15)

Here we find that the worldview during the medieval period, much like the worldview of
the indigenous people, were well articulated and sufficient for their society and context.

The Greek philosophers were noted for the treatises that eloquently

explain not only their observations, hypotheses, and conclusions about the world

and Man’s place in it, their works also show in detail the methods by which they

obtained these insights. There has, therefore, been an exposition of their

ontology and epistemology, something that has been similarly present in ancient

and indigenous (oral) knowledge but not described in an abstracted and detailed

manner. In the Box below, we read about Aristotle and his lectures about his

research in various topics in living systems. We find that his curiosity about the

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natural world, and his methods of studying them, still hold true to this day, even

though his theories do not.

The methods used by these philosophers are similar to that used ancients

and indigenous people in that they use their experience, meditation, and learned

intuition in trying to understand what they believe is the nature of things. Thus

said, there is little actual experimentation other than what is done in the course of

healing and surgery. These studies in natural sciences were much utilized in

practical ventures such as medicine, astronomy, and engineering.

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 7.4B. BOX: Aristotle
The most influential Greek thinker was born at the end the Greek era. Aristotle (324-322
BC), a student of Plato, and the teacher of Alexander the Great, was a philosopher whose
works have been the backbone of philosophical studies from this era until the European
Rennaissance. He may be said to be the first biologist in the Western tradition, and a
significant portion of his work devoted to the study of living systems. In the study of
living systems, he explained the distinction between the specialist -- one who has a
considerable body of experience in practical fieldwork – and the generalist -- one who
knows many different areas of study, when he wrote:

In all study and investigation, be it exalted or mundane, there appear to

be two types of proficiency: one is that of exact, scientific knowledge while the
other is a generalist’s understanding.

Indeed, Aristotle practiced both specialist and generalist modes of study, and has clearly
and eloquently outlined his reasoning in his lectures. He is credited for expounding on
levels of organization (“the more and the less”), systematics or the relationship of species
of plants and animals, reproduction and embryology, among many others. He was a very
avid observer of life, particularly of fishes. Based on his close study of animals, Aristotle
defined a species: a breeding group of particular animals or plants that can breed, and
produce offspring that eventually could reproduce. He then concluded that species were
fixed, immutable, and that they have always existed.

Later Christian philosophers tried to integrate Genesis with Aristotle. They typically
viewed each species as created by God in the beginning, in a heirarchical fashion from the
inanimate, animate, to the spiritual beings as a “Great Chain of Being”.

References:

Boylan, n.d. Aristotle: Biology. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-

bio/

Shields, Christopher, "Aristotle", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward
N. Zalta (ed.), <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/aristotle/>.

7.4.3. Medieval Europe and the Golden Age of the Islamic Civilization

Medieval European society is commonly characterized as feudal and

heirarchical. In those agrarian societies where surplus was few, most of the

population was concerned in the production of food and of goods that were used

in the local communities. The business of seeking and using knowledge was

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relegated to a select few who knew how to read and write. Thus, knowledge and

its interpretation were proscribed by a ruling class; the Monarchies and the

Church, in particular, were very powerful. In early Medieval Europe, the

monastic schools were important in terms of education, governance, and

practical applications of astronomy and medicine.

The Church had great reach in terms of territory and ideological influence.

It was the sole interpreter of the Holy Texts, and the arbiter of the appropriate

knowledge and use of knowledge, as it was responsible for its flock not only in

this life but also the next. Thus, individuals, philosophies, and discoveries had to

pass through the censure of the Church. That which did not conform to the

erstwhile view of Truth were regarded as heresy, and those who tried to explain

miracles and other matters of faith faced harsh punishment. However, outside of

the Church’s purview are the practical arts; and thus, metallurgy, navigation,

agriculture, and engineering continued to flourish following the collapse of the

Roman Empire.

The exposure of Europe to Near Eastern culture was inevitable, due first

to trade via the Silk Road, then the Crusades, and then the colonial expansion.

This contact led to the transmission of the combined knowledge from the Arabic,

Byzantine, Persian and Indian cultural traditions from the Golden Age of the

Islamic Civilization in the 12th century onwards. Thus, European scholars and

scribes were exposed to very different ways that the history of the Earth, natural

sciences, and philosophy were understood outside of the constraints of the

Catholic Church.

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 “Students in the 12th century were eager for knowledge and sought it out

with enthusiasm. They read the Latin classics, analyzed the texts of

Roman law, they read and commented on the works of the Church

Fathers. The most advanced scholars knew that the Muslims of Islamic

civilization had great storehouses of knowledge so they traveled to Spain

to tap these new sources of information. Others went to Constantinople to

obtain translations of Greek manuscripts. In the end, these scholars

renewed western knowledge of Greek science and philosophy and to this

added the treasures of Arabic mathematics and medicine.” (Kreis, 2004)

In many instances, Islamic scientists and mathematicians developed criticisms of

Greek assertions, refined the theories of the classical philosophers to conform to

current empirical information, significantly modified Aristotlian ideas, invented

Algebra and Trigonometry as new fields of mathematics, and improved on Indian

numeral system to include the zero, in what we now know as the Arabic number

system (Whitney, 2004, p. 12).

A resurgence of interest in gaining knowledge in Europe helped in

advancing the creation of centers of learning outside the monasteries: the

University. While not the first universities in the world, these early European

institutions of learning were open to scholars, mainly male feudal lords those who

can afford the high fees, but who are neither clerics nor monks. This level of

democratization of education came with a challenge: throughout Europe,

traditional authority was questioned and the new scholars embraced the notion

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that humanity could be improved not only through prayer and good works, but

through rational change.

7.4.4. The European Enlightenment: The hypothetico-deductive method

and democratizing knowledge

Aristotelian thought was the dominant view for a millennium in the West.

Aristotle’s “Great Chain of Being”, as a classification system, was the major

organizing principle and foundation of the emerging science of biology until the

18th century. Even with the many different theories available in the 16 th – 17th

century, only the Aristotelian worldview was taught in all the leading universities

of the time. However, this changed in mid- 17 th century, when the arguments of

Descartes proved to be most convincing in the European continent. Cartesian

metaphysics, the mechanistic worldview, the duality between matter and mind,

and the Cartesian hypothetico-deductive methodology became accepted by the

community of scholars at the time. It may sound surprising to many modern day

scientists that the beginnings of the current agnostic, materialistic epistemology

in Science was a train of reasoning deeply grounded in seemingly disparate

threads of methodological skepticism and an inherent assumption of the

existence of God.

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 7.4C. ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY: The Cartesian Worldview

Watch HPS100 Lecture 08: Cartesian Worldview. Herewith are some of the arguments in
this worldview and how they were reasoned out:

02:47 – 13:41 Cartesian Metaphysics. Theology is an essential part of Cartesian

metaphysics, alongside skepticism. This is an important grounding of the worldview, as
this bridges the Aristotlian concepts of logic and intuition as the major determinants of
the Truth of a theory, and the newer concepts of skepticism that resonates with late 17 th
century concept that knowledge should be democritized and accessible. By changing the
argument from "what is true" to "of what can I be certain?," the authoritative guarantor of
truth in effect shifted from God to humanity – a philosophical argument that justifies

The zeitgeist of the era being one of change and progress, the long 18 th

century brought about a spate of different, divergent and conflicting theories on

the origins and purposes of living systems. Questions on the age of the earth, a

subject broached by the exposure to non-Christian doctrine as well as

archeological discoveries, were debated. Evolution of living things were

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considered with the increasing tolerance for questioning long-established dogma

and the discovery of fossils, as well as an openness to test theories by

experimentation. The Experiments on the Generation of Insects, written by

Francesco Redi in the late 17th century (who, at that time, was the court physician

to the Grand Duke of Tuscany), served to disprove a once-held notion of

spontaneous generation of living things. Much later, the theory on the

Transmutation of Life was raised by Lamark in the early 1800s. This theory

argues for the evolution, the main argument being that species change as

individuals related to their environment. Thus were new ideas more freely

discussed, and hypotheses on phenomena and their underlying mechanisms

were tested not only based on the train of logic and reasoning, but based on

actual, physical experimentation.

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 7.4D. ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY: Legacies of the European Enlightenment

The hypothetico-deductive method, or “Scientific Method,” was seen as a methodology

with an unprecedented analytical power in terms of hypothesizing underlying
mechanisms behind phenomena and a means of verifying these hypotheses. This legacy
of the Enlightenment era is still one of the acceptable methodologies today, four
centuries hence. For a summary on the impact this new method had on the development
of scientific thought in Europe and its colonies during “long 18th century”, watch the video
The Scientific Method and read on the scientific advancements of the time.

The Scientific Revolution from History.com

Accordingly, the Enlightenment era also saw the first Encyclopedia, subtitled “systematic
dictionary of the sciences, arts and crafts”, 28 volumes published in a span of 21 years
from 1751-1772. A compendium of 70,000 articles edited by French intellectuals Denis
Diderot and Jean La Rond d’Alembert sought to collate all the knowledge available to man
and trnasmit it for the benefit of human advancement, an acheivement that is decidedly
anthropocentric and antiestablishment.

Emerging Sciences and the Encyclopedia from the Stanford Encyclopedia

of Philosophy.

Advances in optics allowed for the visualization and discovery of

microscopic entities and paving the way for the study of anatomy in greater

detail. Moreover, advances in chemistry eventually allowed for analytical studies

of phlogiston (thenceforth purified to what we know now as oxygen gas) and to

look into what was once thought of as a metaphysical vital substance that

animated living organisms, now conceptualized as proteins called enzymes.

Slowly, and with much labor from scholars and philosophers of the time,

the understanding of mechanisms of living systems – very much independent of

the need for spiritual and magical causes -- unfolded into the one we accept

today.

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 7.4E. ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY: The Rennaissance Man

Recall what you know of the lives of great scientific minds of the time: Sir Isaac Newton,
Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Blaise Pascal, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among others.
The span of their work and theorizing encompassed what we appreciate now as most of
them were polymaths, excelling in diverse fields of study: philosophy, anatomy,
chemistry, physics, music, arts, mathematics, engineering, etc.

This reflects on the concept of the study of all human endeavor still being strongly
interrelated; yet again the materialist, reductionist, and dualistic Cartesian worldview
was pushing for greater specialization, analysis, and division. Thus, succeeding scholars
were content to focus solely on a particular topic within a particular discipline with the
exclusion of much else.

What is the danger of growing in knowledge in a steadily narrowing field of study?

Moreover, is there a place for what we now call multidisciplinarity in an increasingly
specialized world? Will complex systems thinking, the current philosophical base of
current study of living systems, signal the return of the Rennaissance men and women?

As a guide to pondering these questions, read Jalees Rehman’s article on The Courage to
Venture Beyond: Of Polymaths and Multidisciplinarians from the Lindau Nobel Laureates
Meetings webpage.

7.5. LIVING SYSTEMS IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY

7.5.1. Reductionist Science and the growth of Biology

The acceptance and eventual dominance of the hypothetico-deductive

method as the Scientific Method, with its materialist, mechanistic, and

reductionist philosophy which analyses a larger system by breaking it down into

pieces and determining the connections between the parts. It became clear that

the reductive study of organisms, alongside the development of specialized

equipment, afforded more and more powerful means for analysis. The elegance

of classical experiments of the time, with the method of controlling conditions in

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order to minimize variables, brings into focus the definitive relationships among

two variables, highlighting a direct relationship between a given cause and a

given effect. This capacity to put forward and test various new theories allowed

for the growth of the field of Biology, and its benefits spread greatly through

medicine, food, and agriculture, among others.

Required Reading:

History of Biology: Advances to the 20th Century in Rogers, Green et al (2018)

Biology in Encyclopedia Brittanica,

https://www.britannica.com/science/biology#ref48843.

It was through this methodology that Biology, not quite a field of study until

the 18th century (for before, it was called natural history), branched into

subdisciplines Anatomy, Microbiology, Genetics, Taxonomy, Cell Biology,

Embryology, Biochemistry, Physiology, and Molecular Biology. Following the

development of chemistry, and the increase in analytical power of the X-ray

crystallography, the chemical composition of cells became an object of study, a

feat anticipated since the age of Alchemy. Thus, with increasing analytical

power, the unit of analysis moved from organism to organ to tissue to cell, and

even further within the cell, to its organelles, and later on to the macromolecules

and smaller molecules that have physiological effects.

The increase in exposure of the Europeans to the knowledge and the

vastly different environments of their colonies in the 16 th to 17th centuries led to

the increase in interest in collecting, cataloguing, and studying different kinds of

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organisms in the different kinds of environments. During this period, Darwin

published his theory of evolution. In the 18 th and 19th century, scientific

expeditions were conducted by trained naturalists. Ecology was established by

the late 19th century, and the concept of ecosystems emerged in the mid 20 th

century, fusing matter and energy flows into the study of ecology. This then

became the basis of systems ecology, which began circa 1960s to 1970s. With

the threats to the environment becoming evident in this period, within the

scientific community and communicated to the public through books like Carson’s

The Silent Spring (1962). The interdisciplinary field Environmental Science,

includes traditional science disciplines such as biology, ecology, geology and

chemistry and combines in issues such as environmental ethics and social

issues.

Thus it is the gains of reductionist biology of the 20 th century that forms the

content and the context of most High School Biology courses.

7.5.2. Limits of mechanistic and reductionist paradigms

In the two hundred years of Cartesian and thereafter Newtonian science,

abstract and practical scientific knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds.

The analytical power of the human senses has been extended by the creation of

tools developed precisely to study various physical phenomena. Energy

available to do work has also been increased beyond biological sources such as

human and animal power, with the development of machines fuelled by coal and

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then by petroleum, and then through electricity. The accumulation of knowledge

and the culture of rational skepticism has allowed for scientific communities to

abrogate models that are not backed by current state of data or have been

disproved by experimentation. The Cartesian framework uses its analytical

power and focus on how to control conditions in order to maximize gains, a

useful tool for industrial and economic growth. Moreover, the exploration of

many fronteirs in knowledge were mainly utilitarian in objective and were not held

back by issues of tradition, balance, ethics or reciprocity.

The Cartesian analytical framework has led to the use of industrial

practices that were very efficient in bringing forth its desired outcomes. However,

the singular focus on desired outcomes has led to many unforseen

consequences to the environment and to human societies. These severely lack

safeguards that maintain balance and ensure the sustainability of the industry

and the environment of which it is a part. For many advocates, it is this utilitarian

view of Nature that has led to the environmental crises that we experience today.

Indeed, they believe that the framework from which these problems arose cannot

be the same framework that will give rise to solutions:

“Cartesian science believed that, in any complex system, the behaviour of

the whole could be analysed in terms of the properties of its parts.

Systems science shows that living systems cannot be understood by

analysis. The properties of the parts are not intrinsic properties, but can

be understood only within the context of a larger whole. (Capra, 1996)”

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 The study of Living Systems has grown in such a way that it now seeks to

predict and mitigate the current environmental crisis that the human society

seems to be moving towards. Reductionist science has given us the concepts

and tools with which to analyse parts of the living system, but a new perspective

and thus new tools are needed in order to make sense of the whole.

Required Viewing:

For an idea of the Complex Systems perspective as applied to Sustainability

studies, watch Donella Meadow’s 1999 lecture (Parts 1, 2, and 3) starting with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmChiLZZHg.

7.6. OVERVIEW OF SCIENCE 11

Our course is divided into four units. Unit 1 (Modules 2 through 7)

discusses the Attributes and Properties of Living Systems, which looks at

concepts you have studied in High School but through a complex systems

perspective. Unit 2 (Module 8) uses these concepts to frame a discussion on

Biodiversity, issues and challenges. Unit 3 takes on resource conservation and

management (Module 9) as a way towards Sustaining Living Systems. Lastly,

Unit 4 (Module 9) discusses issues and challenges on Health and Wellness

through the concept of ecosystem services.

7.7. SUMMARY

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 In this module, we discussed how Nature and the origins of Life were

perceived by human communities over time: from indigenous and traditional

ways of viewing nature to the analytically powerful western Enlightenment

paradigms, to the complex systems perspective we have today. We started with

myths and legends and how orality brings metaphorical and embodied forms of

knowledge and transmission.   With the creation of the written word, the

compilation of knowledge changed not only in form but also in content: 

abstraction and longer philosophical reasoning could be reproduced with great

fidelity over time and space.  It is through written documents transmitted by

ancient scribes and translators that we know of the great Greek Philosophers

and their theories today. 

Over time, technology developed and greater reliance on mechanical

means extending human senses to verify information were found, leading to

changes in paradigms and ways by which humans perceive themselves with

respect to Nature.  Accelerated advances in understanding discrete processes of

nature led to greater capacity to change the environment. However, the loss of

balance and reciprocity with the (re)generative forces of nature led to the current

environmental crises.  

Present day environmental consciousness in this historical context can be

seen as a cyclical return from holistic to mechanistic paradigms and back again. 

Human communities will always endeavor to create and refine models for

understanding the processes of nature, and it is the hope of this course that we

can use our understanding to further increase not only our conceptual knowledge

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of how we fit in the cycles of living systems. We are then called on to recognize,

respect, and care not only for our limited selves in our limited space/time, but for

the whole of the living system of which we are a part. We need to consider our

increased capacities to influence the environment, learn from the lessons of the

past, and work towards our common future.

7.8. REFERENCES (still incomplete)

1
Joseph, B 2016. What Is The Relationship Between Indigenous Peoples And Animals.
https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/what-is-the-relationship-between-indigenous-peoples-and-animals
2
Luigi Piccardi, W. Bruce Masse 2007. Myth and Geology Geological Society of London, 350
pages.
3
King, Darren NT and James Goth, 2006. Māori environmental knowledge in natural hazards
management and mitigation. NIWA, Aukland, NZ. Accessed from
https://www.niwa.co.nz/sites/niwa.co.nz/files/niwa_report_akl2006-055.pdf on January 23, 2018.

Elise Huffer, Ph.D. and Tui Rakuita (2008) Land and people as the measure: A Pacific ethic of
place and prudence. Asia Pacific Perspectives on Environmental Ethics, UNESCO Bangkok.

Four Arrows, Greg Cajete, and Jongmin Lee (2010) Critical Neurophilosophy and Indigenous
Wisdom. Sense Publishers .

Sumingit, 2005, in: WIPO (2006). Protecting traditional knowledge and cultural expressions: The
experience of indigenous peoples in the Philippines.
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/tk/en/wipo_grtkf_ic_9/wipo_grtkf_ic_9_inf_7_c.pdf)

Tebtebba Foundation, 2010. Traditional management & enhancement of Carbon stocks. In:
Indigenous Peoples, Forests & REDD Plus: State of Forests, Policy Environment & Ways
Forward. (pp. 217- 221) http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php/all-resources/category/119-day-1?
download=669:indigenous-peoples-in-the-philippines-and-redd-related-discussions

UN/ISDR Press release (2008) “Traditional knowledge can save lives when disaster strikes.”
Bangkok , Thailand 19 September 2008.
http://www.unisdr.org/files/5438_pr200809Indigeneousknowledge.pdf, accessed January 13,
2018.

Anthony Serafini (2013) The Epic History of Biology. Springer, 395 pages.

Shields, Christopher, "Aristotle", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/aristotle/>.

Whitney, Elspeth. 2004. Medieval Science and Technology. Greenwood Publishing Group, 258
pages.

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Capra, F., & Luisi, P. (2014). The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511895555, p. 1-16.

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