Living systems. II. The organism.

Abstract

General systems behavior theory is concerned with seven levels of living systems-cell, organ, organism, group, organization, society, and supranational system. The following article is an exposition of the basic concepts in this integrative theoretical approach. It is a condensation of a more detailed statement (Miller, 1965a; 1965b; 1965c). The second article is an analysis in terms of this conceptual system of present knowledge concerning one level of living system-the organism. In order to emphasize the cross-level formal identities among levels of living systems, a major consideration of general behavior systems theory, this article follows exactly the same outline, with identical subheadings and section numbers, as other articles written by the author. These deal with the lower levels of living systems-cell and organ (Miller, 1971a)-as well as higher levels-group (Miller, 1971b), organization (Miller, 1972), society, and supranational system. (All the articles will be published together as chapters of the author's forthcoming book, Living Systems.) The primary intent of this article, in addition to its analysis of the content it covers, is to show that the structures and processes of organisms and of living systems at all the levels are directly comparable. Since anatomists and physiologists are usually laymen in organization theory or international relations, psychologists are commonly laymen in economics, and social scientists are ordinarily laymen in cellular biology, all parts of the book, including the two following articles, are necessarily written for intelligent laymen rather than experts, even though the articles deal with many technical topics. Some statements in them will seem to experts to be too elementary to be worth repeating. If a fact is fundamental and may not be known to specialists in other fields it is stated here, even if it is elementary to the experts. The complex division of labor of modern science, often characterized by pluralistic insularity, requires this. The multitude of detailed and specialized experiments and studies that have been carried out provide the substance of the scientific investigation of organisms. Their findings constitute the trees. But an overview of these results and of the relationships among them-a view of the forest-is also essential. Such a telescopic rather than a microscopic view may suggest the proper balance for research on various aspects of organisms and clarify the priorities for future efforts. The Following articles view organisms broadly. They deal with all living systems at this level-protistans, fungi, and plants, as well as animals. Why such a range? To make manifest the continuity or organismic life in structure, process, and history (including evolution). To demonstrate how structure and process go together, so that anatomists, physiologists, and psychologists undestand the common task they share and how each field can enrich the others. Most of the ideas presented in these articles are not new even though the conceptual integration is original with the author. The concepts are derived from many aspects of science and have been developed by many workers, including various former associates of the author at the Universities of Chicago and Michigan, and systems scientists in many other places. The articles necessarily select for discussion only a few researches out of the vast published repertoire, and this selection has necessarily been arbitrary. Experts in each special field might agree on other studies as more important. Some of the author's statements may be wrong and his analysis ill advised. It so he would appreciate corrections-it is hard to cover such a wide range and still make no errors. The constant reference in the second article to cross-level hypotheses stated in the first article has the purpose of showing that propositions possibly valid at other levels may also apply to organism. At each level there are scientists who apply system theory in their investigations. They are systems theorists but not necessarily general systems theorists. They are general systems theorists only if they accept the more daring and controversial position that-though every living system and every level is obviously unique-there are important formal identities of large generality across levels. Such cross-level similarities can potentially be evaluated quantitatively, applying the same model to data collected at two or more levels. This possibility is the chief reason why the author has used the same outline with identically numbered sections to analyze the present knowledge about each of the seven levels of living systems. The following survey of what is known about organisms as systems, therefore, is to be read as a single segment of a larger, integrated whole.