Cited by 18Philosophy and History of ScienceComplex Systems and DynamicsCybernetics and Technology in Society

Information and Living Systems: Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives

·2011·The MIT Press eBooks

Abstract

The informational nature of biological organization, at levels from the genetic and epigenetic to the cognitive and linguistic. Information shapes biological organization in fundamental ways and at every organizational level. Because organisms use information—including DNA codes, gene expression, and chemical signaling—to construct, maintain, repair, and replicate themselves, it would seem only natural to use information-related ideas in our attempts to understand the general nature of living systems, the causality by which they operate, the difference between living and inanimate matter, and the emergence, in some biological species, of cognition, emotion, and language. And yet philosophers and scientists have been slow to do so. This volume fills that gap. Information and Living Systems offers a collection of original chapters in which scientists and philosophers discuss the informational nature of biological organization at levels ranging from the genetic to the cognitive and linguistic. The chapters examine not only familiar information-related ideas intrinsic to the biological sciences but also broader information-theoretic perspectives used to interpret their significance. The contributors represent a range of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, cognitive science, information theory, philosophy, psychology, and systems theory, thus demonstrating the deeply interdisciplinary nature of the volume's bioinformational theme. Bradford Books imprint

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Crossref · 10.7551/mitpress/9780262201742.001.0001

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109 of 109 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Venue
The MIT Press eBooks
Publisher
The MIT Press
Published
2011-04-15
OpenAlex
W77395131
Cited by
18
References
109
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
FWCI
5.43
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Systems and Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
Keywords
information in biology, biological systems, biological organization, information theory, DNA, gene expression, chemical communication, epigenetics, cognition, emotions, language, origin of life, emergence, philosophy of biology

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