© 1988 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Holism and Neutralism for Open Systems1
Department of Morphology, Zoological Laboratory, University of Leiden Kaiserstraat 63, 2311 GP Leiden, The Netherlands
SYNOPSIS. Morphology explains structures by pure description, induction or deduction. Induction generates a view on architectural order in living systems. Deduction explains specific cases by connecting some structure with other features by an explanatory theory like geometries, mechanics or selectionism. This theory includes an architectural order. Tl e explanatory power of the reigning optimal design/holistic machine concept is high. In quantitative deductions, however, unexplained noise occurs. Our group shows today two reactions to that aspect: an ultra- and a neutro-mechanist approach. Both approaches are exemplified here. The methods are reinforced in the first approach and the concept on architectural order is extended in the second approach.
The development of evolutionary theories is shown to influence that of the organismic concept strongly. A similar split as in the organismic concepts is found in evolutionary theories: selectionism, sustaining the holistic machine concept, and a.o. neutralism and dualism sustaining an open system's concept. I suggest that for a functionalistic mechanistic explanation of some structural elements, the behavioral status of that element is formulated first because of possible flexibility in the use of that element. Such a flexibility is found as an oscillatory pattern in a steady state at muscle-activity level, in a gradual and a saltational change at intra- and inter-fixed action pattern level respectively. The oscillatory pattern is assumed to be a neutral interaction between structural elements and stochastic occurring environmental features, mediated by central nervous system activity and occurring prior to mechanization of a pattern for functioning.