Life

Considering systems concepts for living systems seems to start with the perpetual question of humanity posed by Capra (1996): What is life? From the perspective of a biologist, Bertalanffy (1972) seemed to scoff at attempts to describe life using mechanical definitions, saying that the qualitative laws of nature have “little to do with the ultimate reality of nature” (p. 156). From the perspective of a deep ecology philosophy that sees “spiritual and religious” interdependence among all phenomena, Capra (p. 8) joined Bertalanffy in condemning traditional scientific approaches that attempt to understand the behavior of complex systems by analyzing the quantitative parts; insisting that systems can only be understood by understanding qualitative relationships of components within context.

Bertalanffy said that the difference between living and dead is in the process, not the mechanics. The living system has order in which chemical and physical processes allow persistence, development, growth, reproduction, and other biological functions. He pointed out that the definition of life does not adequately exist in mechanical descriptions because they do not address how the organization came to exist, how it regulates itself, and how it exchanges matter with the environment (pp. 139-140).