Picking up sticks: when axes matter ii

This past week at WCCS26, I've put Hodges' model itself on the work-, or more properly the inspection bench. Now, referring back to the - 'Our broken sticks' c/o Roger Lewin "Complexity: life at the edge of chaos" post, perhaps a theatre table is required. That is, as I try to examine the model, take it apart, have a look at the bits - as far as they are. And, what about the question posed in the above post?

'If we take the axes of Hodges' model, and break them at twenty-five points, I wonder what we end-up (or start) with?'

If there are twenty-six sticks, well, amongst other things - we've made quite a mess. But, there's more going on.

There may be some kind of idealised symmetry, or is it equality between the necessary, or projected length of the I-G axis. That is, as it extends for the INTERPERSONAL and SOCIOLOGICAL domains. But is there equivalence, in a default sense, for the SCIENCE and POLITICAL domains? Or am I (once again) overthinking? If medicine, health and by implication social care are bio-psycho-social, then surely we have a structural problem? Not only that, but we see a boundary, partition ... axis - in action. In Hodges' model the axes have two parts, two sides, so they are in effect composite. If the bio-psycho-social model is true, in whatever senses we wish to declare, derive or pursue in research (the literature, logic, practice, political expediency, or realism ...), then the group axis is incomplete. 

Hodges' model: Structure and Content - Axes and Domains

Is this literally why health care systems are so difficult to design, develop, establish and sustain? Think about that too, please. Is this why we as individuals rely on a functioning (caring) society and political systems? Is this why health care systems can suddenly be faced with collapse, as geopolitics has revealed. Vulnerability, becomes more than an individual characteristic and experience; when nations are dependent upon others for their funding, organisation, logistics, personnel, continuity and more. As a result, many understandably want to break with this socio-political and coloanial legacy.

Is there something in the sentence above in italics, that we can actually utilise to help define the foundation of Hodges' model? Again, not wanting to sound grandiose, but is there an axiom hidden in there? Even as 'health' is the inevitable election issue. The irony of this! Even if the politics of health and health in politics is not so much hidden as often denied. History reveals the influence of triage on the battlefield on the emergence of medicine and surgery. The future is here now. There is a political fight to follow for health in all its manifest forms. So here is another post to return to.

[v] Book: The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

Part IV begins with the ecological dimensions of life. There's a reminder that ecology, comes from the Greek 'oikos' for "household". We need this -

move you rubbish (don't leave it in the first place), wipe your feet; switch the lights off when not in use, assuming you have them!; close and open the windows as needed; think less 'location, location, location' and having a home.

Given the pictorial form of Hodges' model - mind-mapping - I've always been attracted to diagrams, no-less here the pioneering work of the Odum brothers and 'Odum flow diagrams' which even today are an ecological currency in the literature (p.344-45). An update on ecosystems as dissipative structures and as autopoietic would be helpful. Of course, now for scholars and students have search terms then resources and learning can follow. While ozone depletion is acknowledged, the role of the atmosphere could possibly be (briefly) expanded (guest essay, box?), in-particular the role of the Van Allen belts and the fact of Earth's magnetic field and (still) molten core. 16.2.3 definitely points the way pp.348-351.

16.3.1 Defining sustainability - made me sit up. Lester Brown's 1980's work is not referenced in:

Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;5:doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254 (From the bibliography listing in the sidebar of this blog.)

It was Brown who defined sustainability, and the question is ongoing regards how to build a sustainable society (p.352). Key as Capra 2002 notes is that a sustainable human community would not interfere with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. Ecological literacy 16.3.2 was also welcome; a constant theme on this blog, given the many claimed forms of literacy, as with (schools of) informatics. The informational perspective can reveal its power across literacies and informatics, consider media and information literacy? A way to paraphrase the authors: "The market and the marketplace is information disordered." (p.354).

Three chapters include descriptions of agencies (with links) that work with knowledge in an interdisciplinary way; where ecological and spiritual dimensions of education are emphasized; and in chapter 18 several other centers of learning. Chapter 16 looks at organisations with a focus on ecoliteracy in schools, colleges and universities. Checking some of the links many are ongoing - alive!

Struck in the past by the original approach of Goethe to 'science', his work on patterns is described in the introduction and here in relation to the arts and curricula. You will find 'art' sprinkled throughout the posts on W2tQ. Key concepts are described networks, flows, cycles, nested systems, dynamic balance, and development. Chapter 17 joins the dots of the world's problems. 'Growth' appears a disposable term, in how it is applied and so little understood, even by politicians and policy makers? Recent UK politics is a prime example. There is a another concurrent thread (to informatics and literacy) on this blog, as it is inbuilt, hard and soft-wired into the structure of Hodges' model. It is dichotomy, polarity and oppositions, specifically, objective - subjective, quality - quantity.

'In fact, the new systemic conception of life makes it possible to formulate a scientific concept of quality. It seems that there are two different meanings of the term - one objective and the other subjective. In the objective sense, the qualities of a complex system refer to properties of the system that none of its parts exhibit. Quantities like mass or energy tell us about the properties of the parts, and their sum total is equal to the corresponding property of the whole - e.g., the total mass or energy. Qualities like stress or health, by contrast, cannot be expressed as the sum of properties of the parts. Qualities arise from processes and patterns of relationships among the parts. Hence, we cannot understand the nature of complex systems such as organisms, ecosystems, societies, and economies if we try to describe them in purely quantitative terms. Quantities can be measured; qualities need to be mapped (see Section 4.3).

With the recent emphasis on complexity, networks, and patterns of organization, the attention of scientists in the life sciences has begun to shift from quantities to qualities, and there has been a corresponding conceptual shift in mathematics. In fact, this began in physics during the 1960s with the strong emphasis on symmetry (see Section 8.4,3), which is a quality, and it intensified during the subsequent decades with the development of complexity theory, or nonlinear dynamics, which is a mathematics of patterns and relationships. The strange attractors of chaos theory and the fractals of fractal geometry are visual patterns representing the qualities of complex systems (see Sections 6.3 and 6.4). 

In the human realm, the notion of quality always seems to include references to human experiences, which are subjective aspects. This should not be surprising. Since all qualities arise from processes and patterns of relationships, they will necessarily include subjective elements if these processes and relationships involve human beings.' pp.368-369. (My emphasis - and encouraging for research and researchers in Hodges' model)

The authors point out how the conjoining of 'sustainable development' is problematic when viewed in qualitative and quantitative terms (17.2.2 pp.369-371). I wonder what Capra and Luis would make of the SDGs and the metrics employed today? This has been an issue (reading for Jones & Wirnitzer, 2022), with measures needing to catch up and the disruption of COVID. There really is a case for economic literacy for people globally, as 'freedom' is so readily passed-off - associated with economics and trade as a 'right'. Another potential update revolves around globalisation, what would they make of Doughnut economics?

An additional risk now are the bitcoin factories and energy needed to drive AI data-processing. How transparent are global corporations in declaring their energy use? The LIBOR scandal is raised, but what the cost involved in Bankman-Fried and FTX-Alameda Research fraud? Capitalism is built on speculation and always will be? But if we defer 'paying' for economic transformation in a decade the costs will rapidly increase. Capra and Luis acknowledge the need to think about future generations. An ethical stance that is, thankfully, changing policy, and deserves attention.

I pencilled in the margin - what is the conclusion of the lesson of Argentina? Do the economists, the IMF, the World Bank, the Argentinian people know? What of the economic predilections of other nations? Who are the exemplars, the pioneers? Must Africa follow the West's bad-habits? Can they leap-frog technologies (land-lines, fossil fuel reliance ...)? I understand they are! In the West, do we need to re-invent public information services, to address the prevailing mindset? Even as the financial industry has passed-through a 'quant' phase, but mathematics still (and will always) hold sway (p.379).

Page 381 reminded me of the need for gainful employment, and how this is threatened and has always been threatened by technology (very broadly defined). The varied forms of parity of esteem become evident not just in health (mental - physical); education (technical - vocational), but employment too, especially with automation and artificial intelligence. The decade since the book was published leaves room for new content: what might replace or complement The Occupy Movement, The Seattle Coalition? The socio-political rate of change is remarkable. Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion, for example, are clearly post-publication. The claimed rationale for business as usual in 'trickle down economics' remains relevant (sadly) p.384. More could be made now of the two numbers - 565 gigatons and 2,800 gigatons of carbon (350.org); and the current debate on carbon capture (Ah! p.408). 

I have over the years associated the intra- interpersonal domain with the individual's cognition, reasoning, logic, intellect, thought, and education. Collectively though we need to invert this:

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

education	EDUCATION
EDUCATION	EDUCATION

It is essential for every person to be informed were possible, to get to this situation (e.g. this book in a sense is an appeal for the public's understanding of science; and our political leaders):

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

EDUCATION	EDUCATION
EDUCATION	ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!

Chapter 18 pulls everything together (and provides HOPE) in systemic solutions. The previous post:

They keep saying - 'duty of care' . . .

- drew on this chapter (p.398). I didn't realise 'commercial speech' is protected in the USA. 

As expected - a moral compass is still needed (p.430). I really the section on acroecology. It might be an idea to read this final chapter first. If there is a response to the question (there's no answer) as to why we are here - this is it. Biotech has its section, genetic engineering, the scope and risks, as does, the third industrial revolution, citing Rifkin's five pillars (2011). Agribusiness, world hunger, and the twelve myths:

'At a time of unprecedented wealth, when almost one-half of all Americans own stocks and are able to watch their wealth and economic power grow on the nightly news, it is good to remember that over 800 million people worldwide are passing the same nights unable to feed themselves and their children. A full quarter of other Americans, especially children, have much in common with the world’s hungry, experiencing their own hunger intermittently. Frances Moore Lappe and co-authors Joseph Collins and Peter Rosset in World Hunger: 12 Myths are there to remind us. Remind us of the plight of the world’s hungry, as Frances Moore Lappe has done for over 20 years, and remind us too that there is enough food; that hunger is not necessary; that hunger is a social creation; hungry people a social phenomenon, and consequently one that depends on us and that we can change.'

https://www.worldhunger.org/world-hunger-12-myths/ 

The chapter and book closes with a meditation regards hope. A comprehensive bibliography and index follows.

Despite the age of this book it has proved well-worth reading. I am glad I pursued my original request for a review copy. Well recommended and I wonder if there would be another edition? Clearly this would take a great effort, but then needs must? I will revisit the chapter on health. In the past week, the  the UK's last coal power plant closed (BBC News). Change is happening. And the weather globally of recent months cannot be denied. 

My thanks are extended to the team at Cambridge University Press for the paperback copy.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

(i) The Systems View of Life 

(ii) The Systems View of Life

(iii) The Systems View of Life

(iv) The Systems View of Life

[iv] Book: The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

If you are about to start studying biology, Part 3 'A new conception of life'  is an excellent introduction to some broad and yet pivotal concepts. I haven't checked the 'current' curricula for biology or human biology, but I suspect there is content provided that may be missing? How are biology curricula characterised? If the 'subject' is comprehensively covered at school - college, there may still be value in the way in which they are presented in TSVoL. And, yes the book is a decade old. There's a step-wise development, that is coherent and fascinating.

The opening sentences to chapter 7, which asks 'What is Life?' :

'7.1 How to characterize the living

It is a common understanding that it is impossible to provide a scientific definition of life which is universally accepted. This stems from the fact that the background of scientists dealing with the question - biologists, chemists. computer scientists, philosophers, astro-biologists, engineers, theologians, social scientists, ecologists differs considerably from one another, depending on one's conceptual framework. In this book, we will not dwell so much on the question of a unique definition of life a single sentence catching all the various aspects of life - but rather, we will consider the more general question: what are the essential characteristics of a living system?' p.129.

- for some reason puts me in Plato's Cave? Maturana and Varela would (and do) have very broad shoulders by now. Autopoiesis is described with structure, systems (of course), self-maintenance, nonlocalization, coupling, and emergent properties. 'Life is a factory that makes itself from within'. p.132. Well that will do me. Even though we talk of political, social and psychological processes, I've always associated the SCIENCES domain of Hodges' model with processes. This includes whether the processes are biological, manufactured by human hand/intellect, such as, industrial working, project management and planning.

For life, initial descriptions concern the cell, DNA, RNA, cell walls and the cellular logic of life. Key is life's interaction with the environment. This is emphasised 7.2.4 and 7.4. I gained a lot of encouragement from:

'According to Maturana and Varela (1980, 1998), the organism interacts with the environment in a "cognitive" way whereby the organism "creates" its own environment and the environment permits the actualization of the organism.' p.134.

It is not just mind - but 'embodied mind'. The joy (for Hodges' model) continues with the impact of social autopoiesis in the social sciences.  

'While behaviour in the physical domain is governed by the "laws of nature,' behavior in the social domain is governed by rules generated in the social system itself.
Thus, two questions arise: is it meaningful to apply the concept of autopoiesis to these domains at all, and, if so, to which domain should it be applied?' pp.136-37.

It's almost like Descartes has taken on a quantum property. We don't know when life is physical (time, space, velocity) and when it is mental - cognitive? Contemplating life, death is never far behind (taxes p.419 if you're wondering). The ethics of death and dying are acknowledged in medical intervention (or not) and religious beliefs and edicts. Again the figures are helpful, illustrating the dynamic modes of an autopoietic unit: homeostasis, reproduction, and death of a cell (p.138). The trilogy of life then is also illustrated as environment, cognition, and autopoietic unit (p.142). When it comes to knowledge domains (social science & ecology) are clearly ubiquitous too.

Concepts of Modern Mathematics
Ian Stewart, 1975

It is Chapter 8 that delivers the biological goods. Beginning with a fascinating account of molecular, or prebiotic evolution, giving rise to biological structures and the interplay of soaps and lipids - "amphiphilic" substances, with molecules that contain a hydrophilic (water loving) head group, and long hydrophobic (water-hating) chains. Well illustrated too, box 8.1 describes 'Surfactants, lipids, and liposomes'. Self-organization, emergence are skillfully threaded together and with creativity - the generation of new forms. Unsurprisingly, Gaia is highlighted 8.3.3 and in a guest essay 'Daisyworld' by Stephen Harding of Schumacher College; which also reminded me of the 1970's BBC drama 'Edge of Darkness'. Maths has another turn in the text; a chiral one. Biomathematics is posited as a new mathematics frontier: here - the numerology of plant growth, the golden section (there's one primary context?), nature's spirals, and symmetry breaking. This helps my current return to maths (the struggle!) trying to get to grips with basic concepts. Ian Stewart is cited, later work than 1975's 'Concepts' I must seek out the 'Mathematics of Life' 2011/12.

Darwin, the resulting biological revolution, history, polymers, peptides and proteins plus DNA and RNA continue a suitably in-depth treatment of 'life' in chapter 9. The conclusion on Darwinism today and the status of genes in science and relation to our identity, being and the effect of chance and contingency is worth being reminded of. In mental illness - psychiatry and psychology a sometimes vitriolic debate continues.  Commercial realities are also apparent, the extent of their influence described: the race to map the human genome. In the text protein folding has advanced markedly since the book's original publication. Now new commercial pressures allied with artificial intelligence make you wonder how the author's would deal with this new 'content'? Exobiologists will enjoy chapter 10 as the focus is planetary: the origins of life on Earth. Useful, basic chemistry figures here - informational and functional (concentration). The notion of 'cognitive' is raised again - information carrying. 

While we are concerned for all life, chapter 11 takes in the human adventure, including the determinants of being human. 'Determinants' have taken on more import today. Chapter 12 in addressing 'Mind and consciousness' is helpful in the approach, the easy and hard problems of consciousness, types of consciousness, schools study. There is another guest essay. Chapters 13-15 deal with spirituality (inc. eco-literacy); life mind and society (I wonder if topology does have a role in the mental realm? (p.311). Chapter 15 is a gift for healthcare professionals - 'The systems view of health' with the question, 'What is health?'. Not to diminish this statement, but I will return to this subsequently; whether in the closing post for this 'review,' or afterwards. This completes part III of what is a great read.

Many thanks again to CUP for the paperback copy, much easier on the eyes. While this copy is new, I do make extensive use of secondhand books.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

(i) The Systems View of Life 

(ii) The Systems View of Life

(iii) The Systems View of Life

Book: [iii] 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision'

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

Part 2 addresses the title - the rise of systems thinking.

The part - whole distinction is not only the root of the reductionism - holism and analysis - synthesis debates, but you feel clever knowing what mereology means ;-). This book is jargon free, even while being detailed and technical when necessary. Terms are defined when needed.

You see (possibly?) the power of advertising given the prominence of vitality in marketing. Meanwhile, vitalism a key to life seems to be an unknown, ever present but in the shadows, until our attention is drawn to it (health: life-death). Capra and Luisi explore mechanism and vitalism, and in turn organismic biology. Whether dealing with science, economics, biology..., I like the way the authors draw in the initial thinkers, the pioneers: whose lives, work and influence often spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The proof of my opening statement in post (i) can be found on page 66:

'Systems thinking is "contextual," which is the opposite of analytical thinking. Analysis means taking something apart in order to understand it; systems thinking means putting it into the context of a larger whole.' p.66.

Ever user(s)-determined (context-based), Hodges' model can readily identify, relate, incorporate the - linear, non-linear, serial, parallel, simple, complex, poor, rich, narrow, broad, static, dynamic, person, service and so on. Also on page 66, Ehrenfrels (1859-1932) is an example, the first to use the term gestalt to denote an 'irreducible perceptual pattern'. There are many potentials within Hodges' model, one of which is that of gestalt. Yes, in healthcare we need to see the whole. We need to see the person, but also see the person in their social, political and spiritual contexts ('determinants)'. Now the global context is critical.

Chapter 4 charts the new physics atomic phenomena, mysticism, uncertainty, probability, causality, space, time, energy, and E=mc². As per the book's subtitle, the search for a unifying theory in physics is noted, and ongoing. Box 4.1 briefly outlines the characteristics of systems thinking; including parts-whole, from objects to relationships and measuring to mapping. Within box 4.1, figure 4.1 reminds me of a Voronoi tessellation.^ From chapter 5 can I claim that Hodges' model is tektological - contributing to the science of structures? One day perhaps this Russian contribution to systems thinking can be looked at anew? Chapter 5 continues to reveal classical systems theories, general systems, cybernetics, feedback - in social systems too, and homeostasis - self-regulation. It's less than a page spanning 92-93,  but 'information theory' is duly noted, closing with cybernetics in the brain, and the emergence of self-organization. Shannon showed that even when there is noise in a communication channel, signals can be transmitted (coding). Is this why training and competence in interpersonal skills and self-awareness are so important, to help health professionals to attend, actively listen, and observe?*

An old T-shirt 'Art Matrix'

Chapter 6 on complexity theory, inevitably describes mathematical ideas providing equations. Unsurprisingly chapter 6 has figures galore. When I unpack the boxes and crates, I must sit down with The Beauty of Fractals ... (p.124!) and check the graphic capabilities of the latest software and hardware. The 'The Systems View of Life' definitely stimulates further enquiry. The baker transformation anyone (Box 6.2, p.107)? Exploration of non-linear dynamics, and abstract spaces also helpful in studies of relations and maths. This completes part II.

Many thanks again to CUP for the pb copy, much easier on the eyes. While this copy is new, I do make extensive use of secondhand books.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

^See: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/fcai-sig-lsc/files/2022/04/Peter-Gardenfors.pdf and 'conceptual spaces'

*Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.

Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.

Book: [ii] 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision'

The introduction highlights the oscillation through history between reductivism, holistic and integrative perspectives; the relationship between theology and the claims for and crystallisation of knowledge and the sciences. The development of cybernetics and systems theory in the 1950s and 1960s does not have it all its own way: 

'The eclipse of systems thinking from pure science had become so complete that it was not considered a viable alternative. In fact, systems theory began to be seen as an intellectual failure in several critical essays. One reason for this harsh assessment was that Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968) had announced in a rather grandiose manner that his goal was to develop general systems theory into "'a mathematical discipline, in itself purely formal but applicable to the various empirical sciences.'' He could never achieve this ambitious goal because in his time no mathematical techniques were available to deal with the enormous complexity of living systems.' p.11.

(With Zeeman's book on Catastrophe Theory on-loan at present the above is helpful.)

I've picked up a book of Arne Naess's, put it down again: or did I buy 'The Ecology of Wisdom'? I can't check at present (the books I've left are all boxed / created), but Naess sets the scene for the mechanistic worldview.

'Care flows naturally if the 'self" is widened and deepened so that protection of free Nature is felt and conceived as protection of ourselves. .. Just as we need no morals to make us breathe... [so] if your "self" in the wide sense embraces another being, you need no moral exhortation to show care.. . You care for yourself without feeling any moral pressure to do it. (quoted by Fox, 1990, p. 217)

'What this implies, according to the eco-philosopher Warwick Fox (1990), is that the connection between an ecological perception of the world and corresponding behavior is not a logical but a psychological connection. Logic does not lead us from the fact that we are an integral part of the web of life to certain norms of how we should live.' p.14.

Science fiction gives you an appreciate of 'deep', even if not initially the philosophical connotations. Deep space, A.C. Clarke's Deep Range, and more recently deep time brought me to consider deep care on the old website and here on W2tQ with Hodges' model a means of navigation. Naess refers to shallow and deep ecology. Now we also have deepfakes, although the climate change deniers may struggle to believe their deepfake - that is: reality.  Although the book was published pre-sustainable development goals, sustainable development is discussed in detail. For me, the climate change and the SDGs demand we consider ecology, ecosystems, life, and the Earth across the domains of Hodges' model and the spiritual explored in chapter 13.

 

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

	shallow | DEEP

A table on page 13 contrasts several opposites across thinking and values:

As usual, I can't shift beyond the book's introduction, but these points for me underscore the value of the book and Hodges' model. Throughout the blog and papers various dichotomies, polarities, oppositions arise. The structure of Hodges' model lends itself to this, and consequently finding the middle. All the above can be reflected upon in relation to Hodges' model, and also searched.

Chapter 1 explains how the discoveries of Galileo, Descartes, Bacon, Newton and Darwin contributed to the world and life - in biology being viewed mechanistically. The focus of the book is 'Western' and the developed nations; as the main contributor to the current state of the planet. The Cartesian divide - mind & matter/body distinction (p.24) is implicit within Hodges' model:

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

res cogitans	res extensa

Newton's work is described and the limitations of Newtonian physics - the social sciences presented a challenge(!). Thermodynamics is introduced helpful for subsequent chapters.

For general science students the book provides a historical primer, and even an introduction to the philosophy of science. Chapter 2 is short but conjoins cells, molecules, genes (Mendel, Watson & Crick; Franklin & Wilkins, and others), and mechanistic medicine. 

'This will not change until medical science relates its study of the biological aspects of illness to the general physical and psychological condition of the human organism and its environment, The conceptual problem at the center of contemporary healthcare is the confusion between disease processes and disease origins. Instead of asking why an illness occurs and trying to remove the conditions that led to it, medical researchers try to understand the mechanisms through which the disease operates, so that they can then interfere with them. These mechanisms, rather than the true origins, are seen as the causes of disease in current medical thinking. In the process of reducing illness to disease, the attention of Physicians has moved away from the patient as a whole person.' p.43.

Thinking about this in basic instrumentalist terms the reliance on optics, the craft of telescopes and microscopes to discover the very large (our Milky Way as 'a' galaxy) and the invisible - germs, bacteria must have been a profound factor.

If you are selecting subjects for age 16 exams, do not underestimate the value of SOCIO-ECONOMIC history. It has helped me as a community mental health nurse. Especially in light of austerity (UK), the cost of living and energy crisis and the 'housing disaster' (book 2024 with) posts to follow. Chapter 3 uses b&w illustrations of key figures, such as, Locke, Adams, and Marx. I remember in the media, economics education being questioned. That is part 1: concise (p.59!) and yet still relevant today.

Many thanks again to CUP for the pb copy.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

Book: 'The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision' [i]

The Systems View of Life -
A Unifying Vision

Published in 2014; I needed this book in the early 1990s, as did we all.

As a review request I'm grateful to CUP for forwarding a copy - that is much easier on the eyes than a screen. This book deserves a much longer-tail.

Reading Resurgence for many years, joining The Ecology Party before they turned Green, and aware of systems, cybernetics this book has brought a great deal together. It has helped me in further thought and formulation about Hodges' model: A system of systems? 

Since 2014 clearly much has changed, I will highlight points where a new edition would be welcome. Although CUP and the authors could find themselves frenetic, such we hope is the pace of change now - or from now on, especially pre-COP29?

Come on petro-states it's time to really deliver.

Even in paperback this book is a reassuring handful, running to 452 pages, excluding the bibliography and index. Part 1 reinforced the encouraging signs in the introduction:

'The basic tension is one between the parts and the whole. The emphasis on the parts has been called mechanistic, reductionist, or atomistic; the emphasis on the whole, holistic, organismic, or ecological. In twentieth-century science, the holistic perspective has become known as "systemic" and the way of thinking it implies as "systems thinking,'' as we have mentioned.

In biology, the tension between mechanism and holism has been a recurring theme throughout its history. At the dawn of Western philosophy and science, the Pythagoreans distinguished "number," or pattern, from substance, or matter, viewing it as something which limits matter and gives it shape. The argument was: do you ask what it is made of - earth, fire, water, etc. - or do you ask what its pattern is?' p.4.

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: paradigms in science and society
• Part I. The Mechanistic World View:
• 1. The Newtonian world-machine
• 2. The mechanistic view of life
• 3. Mechanistic social thought
• Part II. The Rise of Systems Thinking:
• 4. From the parts to the whole
• 5. Classical systems theories
• 6. Complexity theory
• Part III. A New Conception of Life:
• 7. What is life?
• 8. Order and complexity in the living world
• 9. Darwin and biological evolution
• 10. The quest for the origin of life on Earth
• 11. The human adventure
• 12. Mind and consciousness
• 13. Science and spirituality
• 14. Life, mind, and society
• 15. The systems view of health
• Part IV. Sustaining the Web of Life:
• 16. The ecological dimension of life
• 17. Connecting the dots: systems thinking and the state of the world
• 18. Systemic solutions
• Bibliography
• Index
  

This is an excellent primer for students of biology - human biology, including eager learners in secondary school - there is technical discussion that can serve as initial exposure to new terminology, extending vocabulary. The scope of the book however covers all academic subjects, chemistry, physics, anthropology, sociology, general studies, economics and of course ecology, environmental studies.

The book is clearly well-designed and presented. Readable generally and when dealing with technical concepts. Each chapter benefits from illustrations and use of boxes, with short guest essays introduced throughout. There is less reliance on tables. Each chapter is well referenced, and towards the end chapters 17-18 urls are provided. Obviously, the references and urls are dated now; a matter we will return to. Despite the passing decade, the quality of the book still shines through.

I just noticed the cover is attributed to Andy Goldsworthy 1988, Derwent Water, Cumbria and remember out with the family, coming across Goldsworthy's work in Grizedale forest.

I will share news of my reading over several posts and many other connections.

Many thanks to CUP for the hard copy - which has been an informative companion - over the past 4-6 weeks.

Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi (2014) The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/systems-view-life-unifying-vision?format=HB&isbn=9781107011366

Still sorting books: "The holographic paradigm and other paradoxes"

There has been overlap in my subscription to the Laws of Form mail list and a (David) Bohm list. With the difference, I unsubscribed from the latter, in an effort to focus. The work of Bohm is still very much on the radar and book shelves (well, boxes currently). Continuing to clear books, I've been reading through some relevant sections and quote here at length from:

Wilber, K. (Ed.), (1982) The holographic paradigm and other paradoxes. Boulder, CO: Shambhala.

The Enfolding-Unfolding Universe: A conversation with David Bohm (pp.44-104)

"WEBER: You've spoken of clarity often today and in the past: therefore, isn't it necessary at this point to consider consciousness and the knower, the one who is or isn't clear?

BOHM: Yes, we could come to that. The point is that consciousness is confused. Confusion is nonclarity. And if you say, a person is not clear, you mean he's confused, although it is more polite to say he's not clear. And confusion means "melting together." Things that are different are seen as one and things that are one are seen as broken up into many. So confusion clearly causes chaos." p.61.

"BOHM: Well, yes, we can consider that maybe that is what is, but, at the same time we have to be very  careful to say that thought cannot grasp it, so at some stage thought has to put this question aside as to what is, you see. Thought cannot grasp that which is. And any attempt to grasp that which is engages us in serious self-deception which confuses everything. So that thought has to learn or somehow come to a state of discipline, or whatever you want to call it, spontaneous discipline, its own discipline. 

WEBER: Order?  

BOHM: Yes, order, in which it does not attempt to grasp the questions which are beyond it, such as the question of that which is. It can grasp any relative question which is conditioned, or in some way, conditional. So even the nonmanifest consciousness of the  nonmanifest matter, which is highly subtle, is still within the possible area of thought."  p.64.

"WEBER: Deeply. So you're saying that prior to this current awareness of the centrality of consciousness, what we've been trying to do is hopeless because we've addressed small social problems all in the wrong domain, so to speak. 

BOHM: Yes. Well, really not going to their source at all." p.80.

"WEBER: Which was the old Cartesian or dualistic model.  

BOHM: Right. It also leads to infinite regress, unless you end it by  God or somewhere.

Now I think we come to a point where we're raising a question which was similar to what was raised in  yesterday's discussion.  How long can we go on trying to talk about what is beyond thought by making an intellectual construction? You see, because when we  make such an intellectual construction we  have a content and we have implied that the one who is constructing it is also supposed to be beyond that content. So he evades the very thing we attempt to include him in and in that very attempt he gets out. And so it seems that there is some limit to how far you can go in that  process, in that approach. Therefore it's best to say that in this approach in which we attempt to make a map, or a sketch of some  kind of what reality is, that we are really dealing with something limited. Korzybski used to say: "Whatever we say it is, it isn't."

WEBER: The map is not the territory. . . .

BOHM: That's right. Yes. And therefore what we are doing is making maps, making sketches, making concepts. And see, that's why I said the other night that science, for example, theoretical  science, is not primarily concerned with observing things but with observing ideas. ..."  p.84

The Tao of Physics Revisited  (pp.215-248)

"CAPRA: Yes, they would look at genetics, individual parts and so on. 

WEBER: They have the Cartesian view, whereas you're saying that this is the new vision, emphasizing interdependence, interconnectedness, the dynamics of the whole. 

CAPRA: But I should say that both reductionism and holism are necessary. 

WEBER: I understand. You are not suggesting that we abolish the other. You are saying we should supplement one with the other. 

CAPRA: If you want to get the full story, then you need both views. Because either one gives you only half of the story. This is what I see as the future of science, and I see a future science as no longer distinguishing between disciplines. 

WEBER: That's a very radical view. 

CAPRA: Yes, and by the way Heinsenberg already said that years ago. In one of his books, The Part and the Whole, he ends with his view of future science, and I agree very much with that. I have come to believe that in the future we will apply a network of models, and we will use different languages to describe different phenomena at different levels. We will not worry any longer whether we are doing biology or psychology or physics or anthropology or whatever; we won't be worried about these classifications." p.241.

Reading of The Systems View of Life - A Unifying Vision is also ongoing (p.240 ... and a joy) with posts to follow.

See also:

https://kfoundation.org/krishnamurti-and-david-bohm/

Hodges' model: A tool to watch the complications of Care

Individual

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HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

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Group

How many complications here?
... here?	"Despite its achievement, Vacheron Constantin has not filed a patent, on the Chinese perpetual calendar, saying it doesn't want to reveal details." p.S9. ... and here too?

Foulkes, N. Inside Vacheron's exclusive cabinet of complications, Watches & Jewellery, Financial Times, 9 April 2024, p.4.

Image and text: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/introducing-vacheron-constantin-berkley-grand-complication

The Complications, 1 Through 63

"There's likely some part of you that's curious about each of the 63 functions that have totaled a record-breaking level of complication. I'll list the functions below, broken down by type, to simplify things.

Time measurement (9 Total): 1. Regulator-type hours, minutes, and seconds for mean solar time 2. Retrograde second for mean solar time 3. Day and night indication for reference city 4. Visible spherical armillary tourbillon regulator with spherical balance spring 5. Armillary sphere tourbillon 6. World time indication for 24 cities 7. Second time zone hours and minutes (on 12 hours display) 8. Second time zone day and night indication 9. System to display the second time zone for the Northern or Southern hemispheres

Gregorian Perpetual Calendar (7 Total): 10. Gregorian perpetual calendar 11. Gregorian days of the week 12. Gregorian months 13. Gregorian retrograde date 14. Leap-year indication and four-year cycle 15. Number of the day of the week (ISO 8601 calendar) 16. Indication for the number of the week within the year (ISO 8601 calendar).

Chinese Perpetual Calendar (11 Total): 17. Chinese perpetual calendar 18. Chinese number of the day. 19. Chinese name of the month 20. Chinese date indication 21. Chinese zodiac signs 22. 5 elements and 10 celestial stems 23. 6 energies and 12 earthly branches 24. Chinese year state (common or embolismic) 25. Month state (small or large) 26. Indication for the Golden number within the 19-year Metonic cycle 27. Indication for the date of the Chinese New Year in the Gregorian calendar.
Chinese Agricultural Perpetual Calendar (2 Total): 28. Chinese agricultural perpetual calendar. 29. Indications of seasons, equinoxes, and solstices with solar hand.

Astronomic Calendar (9 Total): 30. Sky chart (calibrated for Shanghai) 31. Sidereal hours 32. Sidereal minutes 33. Sunrise time (calibrated for Shanghai) 34. Sunset time (calibrated for Shanghai) 35. Equation of time 36. Length of the day (calibrated for Shanghai) 37. Length of the night (calibrated for Shanghai) 38. Phases and age of the moon, one correction every 1027 years.

Split-seconds Chronograph (4 Total): 39. Fifths of a second chronograph (1 column wheel) 40. Fifths of a second split-second chronograph (1 column wheel) 41. 12-hour counter (1 column wheel) 42. 60-minute counter.

Alarm (7 Total): 43. Progressive alarm with single gong and hammer striking 44. Alarm strike/silence indicator 45. Choice of normal alarm or carillon striking alarm indicator 46. Alarm mechanism coupled to the carillon striking mechanism 47. Alarm striking with choice of grande or petite sonnerie 48. Alarm power-reserve indication 49. System to disengage the alarm barrel when fully wound.

Westminster Carillon (8 Total): 50. Carillon Westminster chiming with 5 gongs and 5 hammers 51. Grande sonnerie passing strike 52. Petite sonnerie passing strike 53. Minute repeating 54. Night silence feature (between 22.00 and 08.00 hours – hours chosen by the owner) 55. System to disengage the striking barrel when fully wound 56. Indication for grande or petite sonnerie modes 57. Indication for silence / striking / night modes.

Additional features (6) 58. Power-reserve indication for the going train 59. Power-reserve indication for the striking train 60. Winding crown position indicator 61. Winding system for the double barrels 62. Hand-setting system with two positions and two directions 63. Concealed flush-fit winding crown for the alarm mechanism."

Also: Naas, R. New and extremely complicated. Watches. The New York Times International Edition, April 9, 2024, p.S9

Craftsmanship. "It took a watchmaker a year to assemble the Complication's 2,877 parts, including 31 hands, nine discs and 245 jewels." p.S9. Plus, quote regards the question of a patent.

Vacheron Constantin

(Just to be clear - this post, as with all others is not paid/sponsored.)

'Humanistic geography' - goes full circle

INDIVIDUAL

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HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

"Alongside Euclidean geometry non-Euclidean geometries were invented. Alongside the old Aristotelian logic and the law of the excluded middle, new forms of logic with, for example, multiple values were developed. This type of work, far from remaining purely speculative, proved indispensable to the progress of physical theories. Consequently epistemological research was no longer seen as fundamentally inductive. It was no longer content to follow the movement of science: it undertook to precede science by indicating which tools should be used to make the best progress. This was the atmosphere which characterised neo-positivism: some concern was already apparent, therefore, but epistemology was still only partially critical. Its role was still more prescriptive." p.227.

"Tuan states that 'humanistic geography' is 'not an earth science' and that with its purpose as the better understanding of man and his condition, humanistic geography properly belongs to the humanities. (Tuan, 1976, 266). For Tuan humanistic geography is 'event-centred'; it is the study of articulated geographical ideas such as 'place', 'territory', 'crowding', 'privacy' and religion and it is particularly concerned with describing the quality of the emotion experienced in specific settings, e.g. the study of place as a centre of meaning for an individual rather than place as described by its geographical coordinates." pp.116-7.

Now we need to think of 'biospheric geography' within which humanity plays a pivotal and critical part.

https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-story-behind-apollo-8s-famous-earthrise-photo/

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-administrator-honors-life-of-apollo-astronaut-frank-borman/

Rose, C., Wilhelm Dilthey's Philosophy of Historical Understanding: a Neglected Heritage of Contemporary Humanistic Geography, p.99-131; Claval, P., Epistemology and the History of Geographical Thought, p.227-239. In. Stoddart, D.R., editor (1981) Geography, Ideology & Social Concern. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher Ltd.

More books - gone; btw I'm not finding a post in each one - honest!

"Rational Concepts" 1977 by Norman Dilworth

"Rational Concepts" 1977 by Norman Dilworth. Tate
© Norman Dilworth

Hodges' model: seeking rational* concepts to deliver person-centred, integrated care and make sense of subjective and objective realities.

ARTIST Norman Dilworth 1931 – 2023 [Born in Orrell, Wigan]
MEDIUM Screenprint on paper
DIMENSIONS Image: 600 × 600 mm
COLLECTION Tate
ACQUISITION Purchased 1981
REFERENCE P07424

[NOT ON DISPLAY]

Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dilworth-rational-concepts-p07424

*Irrational too.

I sketched Dilworth's image on 5th March at Tate Liverpool, the exhibition: "Keywords. Art, Society and Culture in 1980s Britain" from 28 Feb 2014 to 11 May 2014.

Book: "Spare Parts"

Individual
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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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Group

	"Spare Parts"

Hart, C. (2021) Not for the faint-hearted, Review, The Sunday Times, 15 August, p.24.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/311/311106/spare-parts/9780241370254.html

Image: Fig Tree - Penguin

"EEEE..." and not a cloth-cap in sight

"The acronym EEEE abbreviates

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

"everything	enfolds
everything	else"

 

 - where the word 'enfolds' means 'contains within itself'. A theory in which some interpretation of the EEEE principle holds, is said to possess (the property of) wholeness; that is, each part contains, within itself, the whole (more precisely, the near-whole: every other part). We first discuss classical set theory and wholeness. We then interpret EEEE set theoretically and investigate whole set theory. A method is described by which classical set theory can be made to manifest a degree of wholeness, and further lines of investigation are suggested. A brief discussion of various examples of the EEEE principle is given in the Appendix" 

Blizardo, W. (1989). EEEE: SET THEORY AND WHOLENESS. Logique Et Analyse, 32(127/128), NOUVELLE SÉRIE, 215-239. Retrieved September 4, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44084274

Please note in posting this, I am not trying to suggest that I understand the paper: as a whole - or even several parts!. 

n.b. Posted in Wigan - just a cloth-cap insight.

Poetic license ack: “Eee lad, we’re off to that there North England”

https://twitter.com/BarristerSecret/status/1223260008256765953?s=20

The "Mereology of Potentiality" project - e-Seminars

The "Mereology of Potentiality" project would like to announce the following activities for Trinity Term (to attend the e-seminar, you will simply need to click on the link provided):

Online Work in Progress seminars:

• 1 May - Thomas Sattig (Tuebingen) - "The enduring present"
• 8 May – William Simpson (Cambridge) - "Empowering scientific practices: Naturalism and the problem of induction "
• 15 May – Aaron Cotnoir (St. Andrews) - "A Mereology of Powers? Three Ideas"
• 22 May - Neil Williams (Buffalo) - "Book discussion: the power metaphysic"
• 29 May - Robert Corry (Tasmania) - "TBC"
• 5 June - Travis Dumsday (Concordia) - "The structure of powers: canvassing some options"
• 12 June - Elisa Paganini (Milano) - "Powers and Ontic Vagueness"

For all our project-related events, attendance is open to all. On our website -
(https://www.power-parts.website/ ) you can find news, abstracts, or sign up to our mailing list. 

For any questions, please e-mail us at power AT philosophy.ox.ac.uk

All the best
Anna, Christopher and Andrea


My source:
phil-powers AT maillist.ox.ac.uk

Lucian identity ii

INDIVIDUAL

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INTRA- INTER-PERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC ----------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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GROUP

Lucian Freud, Interior with Hand Mirror (Self-Portrait), 1967. Oil on canvas. 25.5 x 17.8 cm. Private collection. © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images.	Painting as Process process as painting

See also:

Post: Lucian identity i

Lucian Freud Archive
http://lucianfreud.com/index.html

Royal Academy Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/lucian-freud-self-portraits

My source:
Campbell-Johnston, R. The secrets that still lie in the paint-strewn lair of Lucian Freud, The Times, Saturday Review, October 19 2019, pp.4-5.

Lucian identity i

INDIVIDUAL

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC ----------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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GROUP

Lucian Freud, Self Portrait, c.1956 (oil on canvas)	Painting Process
peer (painting)	peer supervision

"... [Lucian Freud's] most precious works are perhaps his unfinished portraits. ... The two painters [Francis Bacon] often used each other as models preferring to depict each other’s psychological states rather than physical. ...

Then there is the unfinished self-portrait from around 1956. (Image #4 in the slideshow) These paintings should be looked at as precious gifts that offer an unprecedented access to Freud’s very personal process. Notice how his loose pencil marks, more like broad guidelines for the final portrait gain volume and become imbued with emotion at the hand of the master. You can see that Freud started each portrait with the most expressive feature of the human face – the eyes, and moved radially outwards from there."

 With my emphasis and image source:
 http://www.galleryintell.com/lucian-freud-portraits-kunsthistorisches-museum/

See also:

Lucian Freud Archive
http://lucianfreud.com/index.html

Royal Academy Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/lucian-freud-self-portraits


My source:
Campbell-Johnston, R. The secrets that still lie in the paint-strewn lair of Lucian Freud, The Times, Saturday Review, October 19 2019, pp.4-5.

Composability: programming and caring

Composability: (Ruby Pocket Reference, O'Reilly, 2007)

The degree to which you can express logic
by combining and recombining
parts of a language (p. 136).

Composability within health and social care - is there a further definition...?

The degree to which you can express care situations
by combining and recombining
the parts of a language encompassed within a health and social care model,
(a dedicated conceptual space).