biological holism

Compiled with AI assistance and selectively reviewed. Please consult the cited passages; the books remain the authoritative source. About this companion

Editorial synthesis · provisional

Definition

Biological holism is Edelman’s non-dualist account of mind as arising through complex interactions of an embodied brain, a living body and its environment. RB2 contrasts it both with an immaterial mind and with a simplistic description of persons as nothing but molecules. The proposed entry preserves organized biological explanation without positing a mystical whole, a separate vital force or an exemption from material dependence.

Explanation

The direct account rejects non-physical additions to biological processes while resisting a reduction that discards the organization and capacities of the living person. Creative and spiritual aspects remain aspects of biological life in Edelman’s position. Their inclusion does not introduce an extra substance or certify every philosophical implication as an experimental result.

The following paragraph stresses bodily dependence and mortality, including an embedded Edelman quotation. The proposal retains this attributed position rather than treating the quotation as the author’s original definition or claiming that every approach to embodied cognition adopts precisely the same ontology.

AB’s holonic comparison likewise permits powers at multiple nested levels without giving one level absolute priority. RB2 connects bodily value and reentry to the organization of consciousness. These comparisons concern explanatory organization and dependence, not an ethical inference that a more integrated whole is automatically good or that its parts lose all distinctness.

Scope and attribution

Retain Edelman’s position and embedded quotation attribution, distinguishing organization from metaphysical or ethical overclaim.

RB2 — The Real Book, Volume II: Becoming Is Being

Edelman rejects dualism and simplistic reduction while retaining biological dependence.

Occurrence locators: 2, 3, 20, 23, 26, 27, 38, 40, 41.

Background used in the editorial explanation

Named theories and mechanisms are distinguished from neighboring background, homonyms and the author’s own synthesis. Reproduced AI passages retain their separate voice.