Module 1
1A: Biologies
Overview:
3
• Levels of organization
• Reductionism vs. Organicism Biologies
• Proximate vs. Ultimate causes
Levels of organization
1) Biosphere: The part of the earth that contains all ecosystems
2) Ecosystem: Community and its nonliving surroundings
3) Community: Populations that live together in a defined area
4) Population: Group of organisms of one type that live in the same area
5) Organism: Individual living thing
6) Group of cells: Tissues, organs, and organ systems
7) Cells: Smallest functional unit of life
8) Molecules: Groups of atoms; smallest unit of most chemical compounds
1-4: Supra-organismic | Populational biology
5: Organismic | Organismic biology
6-8: Infra-organismic | Cell and molecular biology
,Reductionism vs. Organicism
REDOCUTIONISM (ATOMISTIC) ORGANICISM (HOLISTIC)
Elementary units control, shape, and coordinate The search for vertical causal relationships, i.e.,
the organisation and activity of higher-level units. how behavior affects our organism, or vice
Organisms are not studied in their entirety but in versa.
the details that make them up as such.
Two-way causation:
There are two types of interactions: Bidirectional verticality: Activities that occur at
elementary levels can affect higher levels of
Horizontal: Systems identified at each level organization, and vice versa (greater
interact with other systems at the same level. importance of upward vertical interactions).
The dependent variable and the independent
variable are at the same level. -> This is highlighted by autonomous biologists
(organismic/populational).
Vertical Ascendant: The activity of elementary
units affects the activity of higher-level units. The Summary:
dependent variable and the independent variable Any variable at any level can be both a cause
are at different levels. and a consequence.
-> This is highlighted by provincial biologists
(cellular/molecular) who are concerned not only
with the discovery itself but also with verifying
the contribution that such a discovery can have.
Summary:
There is a tendency to think that the answers lie
within the individual organism, that the essential
causes something greater. For example, that a
specific hormone causes a particular behavior.
Populations
Organisms
Cells
Molecules
, PROVINCIAL BIOLOGY AUTONOMOUS BIOLOGY
Accepts all three types of reductionism: Accepts constitutive reductionism
Constitutive: Rejects explanatory and theoretical
• All living beings are constituted by molecules reductionism
and atoms
• At lower levels, physical/chemical laws apply
• No distinction between living and non-living
entities. Both living beings and inorganic
elements are made up of the same matter
Explanatory:
• Behavior is explained by molecular/cellular
levels. A biologist should aim to explain an
organism's behavior based on the behavior of
the most elementary biological variables
(genes, hormones...).
• Justification for upward arrows.
Theoretical:
• Biology is an immature science compared to
physics and chemistry, so it is said that
biology is nothing more than a province of
physics, and its laws can be deduced from the
laws of physics
1A: Biologies
Overview:
3
• Levels of organization
• Reductionism vs. Organicism Biologies
• Proximate vs. Ultimate causes
Levels of organization
1) Biosphere: The part of the earth that contains all ecosystems
2) Ecosystem: Community and its nonliving surroundings
3) Community: Populations that live together in a defined area
4) Population: Group of organisms of one type that live in the same area
5) Organism: Individual living thing
6) Group of cells: Tissues, organs, and organ systems
7) Cells: Smallest functional unit of life
8) Molecules: Groups of atoms; smallest unit of most chemical compounds
1-4: Supra-organismic | Populational biology
5: Organismic | Organismic biology
6-8: Infra-organismic | Cell and molecular biology
,Reductionism vs. Organicism
REDOCUTIONISM (ATOMISTIC) ORGANICISM (HOLISTIC)
Elementary units control, shape, and coordinate The search for vertical causal relationships, i.e.,
the organisation and activity of higher-level units. how behavior affects our organism, or vice
Organisms are not studied in their entirety but in versa.
the details that make them up as such.
Two-way causation:
There are two types of interactions: Bidirectional verticality: Activities that occur at
elementary levels can affect higher levels of
Horizontal: Systems identified at each level organization, and vice versa (greater
interact with other systems at the same level. importance of upward vertical interactions).
The dependent variable and the independent
variable are at the same level. -> This is highlighted by autonomous biologists
(organismic/populational).
Vertical Ascendant: The activity of elementary
units affects the activity of higher-level units. The Summary:
dependent variable and the independent variable Any variable at any level can be both a cause
are at different levels. and a consequence.
-> This is highlighted by provincial biologists
(cellular/molecular) who are concerned not only
with the discovery itself but also with verifying
the contribution that such a discovery can have.
Summary:
There is a tendency to think that the answers lie
within the individual organism, that the essential
causes something greater. For example, that a
specific hormone causes a particular behavior.
Populations
Organisms
Cells
Molecules
, PROVINCIAL BIOLOGY AUTONOMOUS BIOLOGY
Accepts all three types of reductionism: Accepts constitutive reductionism
Constitutive: Rejects explanatory and theoretical
• All living beings are constituted by molecules reductionism
and atoms
• At lower levels, physical/chemical laws apply
• No distinction between living and non-living
entities. Both living beings and inorganic
elements are made up of the same matter
Explanatory:
• Behavior is explained by molecular/cellular
levels. A biologist should aim to explain an
organism's behavior based on the behavior of
the most elementary biological variables
(genes, hormones...).
• Justification for upward arrows.
Theoretical:
• Biology is an immature science compared to
physics and chemistry, so it is said that
biology is nothing more than a province of
physics, and its laws can be deduced from the
laws of physics
