Module 1: PERSPECTIVES ON LIVING SYSTEMS

where have we come from?
what is our relationship to the world around us?

Biology reflects our efforts to answer questions we humans have asked since time immemorial, and how we figured out means of answering them, and the answers we have given. Questions such as:

immediate environment

From the dawn of humanity, we humans have been dependent on our ___________ for all our needs: for water, food, shelter, and clothing.

water
food
shelter
clothing

From the dawn of humanity, we humans have been dependent on our immediate environment for all our needs:

systematic observations
life and death

An intimate knowledge of our environment, gained through _________, was a matter of ________ for an individual and the tribe

orally
experientially

With the absence of writing, this knowledge was transmitted

orally

through telling of stories, chanting and music, and the creation of visual arts

experientially

through direct teaching of the younger generations in hunting and gathering expeditions, and by experiencing living systems both physically and metaphorically in nature walks, rituals, and dream journeys

Elders
Storyteller
Hunter
Gatherer
Farmer

key people in oral traditions

Elders

are esteemed for their knowledge, and the knowledgeable among them are required to perform special roles

Storyteller

with the ability to tell stories in a memorable, engaging way, performs an important teaching function in the life of a tribe; for stories, myths, and legends are how experiences of the tribe, especially of catastrophic events, are recorded and stored

Hunter

whose knowledge of wildlife, capacity to read the slightest of signs, and the capability to create tools and weapons, teach the knowledge of the environment without words

Gatherer

who has knowledge of fruits, animals, and herbs and their uses

Farmer

who has knowledge of the seasons and the signs of the wind and sky.

natural world
not viewed as a separate entity

The __________ - the land, plants, animals, seasons and cycles of nature - has been a central tenet of their lives and worldviews since the dawn of time. Their understanding of the natural world is sophisticated and comprehensive… (It) is _____________________ but one, interconnected aspect of the whole. This interconnectedness equates to a moral responsibility to care for, live in harmony with, and respect the natural world”

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices

Myths and legends and folklore are a part of what we call

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices

traditional knowledge passed on through traditional means for many generations

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices

product of careful and methodologically sound observations of the natural world

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices

tested and re-tested for thousands of years in the most rigorous real-life laboratories for survival and well-being.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices

This knowledge affects not only their forms of art and oral literature but includes all aspects of life: from knowledge of geography and climate that allow them to “read” signs from nature—the wind, animal behavior, and the appearance of indicator plants’ leaves and flowers—to predict future environmental conditions as accurately as any barometer or weather gauge

biocultural knowledge

The intimate knowledge of the interplay among elements in the local living systems give rise to many applications which have been validated by indigenous knowledge systems as well as modern scientific methods

biocultural knowledge

knowledge that is rooted both in the natural environment and what is readily available

Priestly Class

The human connection to the gods – the ________ – were the sole interpreters of the gods’ desires, such that, they had exclusive access to the stored knowledge, and they were the only ones authorized to interpret them

Storyteller

in oral cultures, the ______ was the keeper of knowledge

clay tablets (Sumerians)
papyrus scrolls (Egyptians)
bamboo (East Asians)
bone or wood (East Asians)
animal hide (Mayans)
wax tablets (Romans)
parchment (medieval Europe)
paper (Chinese)
copies of the Qur’an

in literate cultures, knowledge was stored and thus transmitted through the:

literacy

______ allowed for the expansion of collective knowledge beyond the Storytellers’ collective memories, however well-developed those memories were.

clay tablets
cuneiform

The knowledge held by the Sumerians was kept in _____ written in _______

Sumerian belief system

The ____________ encompassed both empirical and the magical, for example, in the treatment of disease. Some diseases were attributed to demon possession, and it was believed that the sacrifice of animals would cure this possession through the transmission of the demon from the afflicted person to the lamb

Greek Philosophers

The History of Biology usually traces the beginnings of abstract scientific thought to the ___________

Roman
Islamic
Christian monks

(Greek Philosophers) The written transcripts of the lectures of these learned men being transmitted through the years by translators and scribes from the ______ times, then transmitted by the _______ translators and scribes, and the ________________

What is Man?
What is the world?

The reasons for expanding this effort through the centuries is clear: the legacy of Greek philosophical inquiry resonated with the most important questions of human existence:

Aristotle

most influential Greek thinker was born at the end the Greek era

Aristotle

a student of Plato, and the teacher of Alexander the Great

Aristotle

philosopher whose works have been the backbone of philosophical studies from this era until the European Renaissance

Aristotle

He may be said to be the first biologist in the Western tradition, and a significant portion of his work devoted to the study of living systems.

specialist
generalist

(Aristotle)In the study of living systems, he explained the distinction between
the _______ -- one who has a considerable body of experience in practical fieldwork –
and the ________ -- one who knows many different areas of study

Aristotle

practiced both specialist and generalist modes of study, and has clearly and eloquently outlined his reasoning in his lectures. He is credited for expounding on levels of organization (“the more and the less”), systematics or the relationship of species of plants and animals, reproduction, and embryology, among many others.

species

a breeding group of particular animals or plants that can breed and produce offspring that eventually could reproduce

species

fixed, immutable, and that they have always existed

Christian philosophers tried to integrate Genesis with Aristotle. They typically viewed each species as created by God in the beginning, in a hierarchical fashion from the inanimate, animate, to the spiritual beings as a “_____________”

Medieval European society

is commonly characterized as feudal and hierarchical

Monarchies
Church

(Medieval European society) Thus, knowledge and its interpretation were prescribed by a ruling class; the _______ and the ______ were very powerful

Church

The ______ had great reach in terms of territory and ideological influence. It was the sole interpreter of the Holy Texts, and the arbiter of the appropriate knowledge and use of knowledge, as it was responsible for its flock not only in this life but also the next.

censure of the Church

(Medieval European society) Thus, individuals, philosophies, and discoveries had to pass through the __________.

Silk Road
Crusades
colonial expansion

The exposure of Europe to Near Eastern culture was inevitable, due first to trade via the ______, then the _____, and then the _______.

Algebra and Trigonometry
Arabic number system

In many instances, Islamic scientists and mathematicians developed criticisms of Greek assertions,
- refined the theories of the classical philosophers to conform to current empirical information, significantly modified Aristotelian ideas, invented __________________ as new fields of mathematics,
- and improved on Indian numeral system to include the zero, in what we now know as the _________________

University

A resurgence of interest in gaining knowledge in Europe helped in advancing the creation of centers of learning outside the monasteries: the ________

hypothetico-deductive method

The European Enlightenment: The ______________ and democratizing knowledge

Great Chain of Being

Aristotle’s “___________”, as a classification system, was the major organizing principle and foundation of the emerging science of biology until the 18th century

Aristotelian worldview

Even with the many different theories available in the 16th – 17th century, only the ______________ was taught in all the leading universities of the time.

Descartes

this changed in mid- 17th century, when the arguments of ______ proved to be most convincing in the European continent

Cartesian metaphysics
Cartesian hypothetico-deductive methodology

___________, the mechanistic worldview, the duality between matter and mind, and the ___________________ became accepted by the community of scholars at the time.

zeitgeist of the era

The _____________ being one of change and progress, the long 18th century brought about a spate of different, divergent, and conflicting theories on the origins and purposes of living systems.

Experiments on the Generation of Insects

The ___________________________, written by Francesco Redi in the late 17th century (who, at that time, was the court physician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany), served to disprove a once-held notion of spontaneous generation of living things

Transmutation of Life

theory on the ________________ was raised by Lamarck in the early 1800s. This theory argues for the evolution, the main argument being that species change as individuals relate to their environment.

Reductionist Science

LIVING SYSTEMS IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY : __________________and the growth of Biology

Scientific Method

The acceptance and eventual dominance of the hypothetico deductive method as the ______________, with its materialist, mechanistic, and reductionist philosophy which analyses a larger system by breaking it down into pieces and determining the connections between the parts.

Anatomy
Microbiology
Genetics
Taxonomy
Cell Biology
Embryology
Biochemistry
Physiology
Molecular Biology

(reductionist Science) It was through this methodology that Biology, not quite a field of study until the 18th century (for before, it was called natural history), branched into sub disciplines including:

The Silent Spring

With the threats to the environment becoming evident in this period, within the scientific community and communicated to the public through books like Carson’s _______________

Environmental Science

The interdisciplinary field _______________ includes traditional science disciplines such as biology, ecology, geology, and chemistry and combines in issues such as environmental ethics and social issues.

Cartesian
Newtonian

In the two hundred years of __________ and thereafter ______ science, abstract and practical scientific knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds

Cartesian framework

uses its analytical power and focus on how to control conditions to maximize gains, a useful tool for industrial and economic growth.

Cartesian analytical framework

led to the use of industrial practices that were very efficient in bringing forth its desired outcomes. However, the singular focus on desired outcomes has led to many unforeseen consequences to the environment and to human societies.

Cartesian science
Systems science

• ___________ believed that, in any complex system, the behaviour of the whole could be analysed in terms of the properties of its parts.

• _________ shows that living systems cannot be understood by analysis. The properties of the parts are not intrinsic properties but can be understood only within the context of a larger whole”