Integrative level
An integrative level, or level of organization, is a set of phenomena
Levels
The main levels usually acknowledged are those of matter, life, mind, and society. These are called strata in philosopher Nicolai Hartmann's ontology. They can be further analyzed into more specific layers, such as those of particles, atoms, molecules, and rocks forming the material stratum, or those of cells, organisms, populations, and ecosystems forming the life stratum.
The sequence of levels is often described as one of increasing complexity, although it is not clear whether this is always true: for example, parasitism emerges on pre-existing organisms, although parasites are often simpler than their originating forms.
Philosophies
Ideas connected to integrative levels can be found in the works of both materialist philosophers and anti-materialist ones. Some philosophers and scientists have argued against certain ideas about levels of organization (see § Arguments against levels of organization).
See also
- Antireductionism
- Big History
- Biological organisation
- Boundary problem (spatial analysis)
- Hierarchy theory
- Level of analysis
- Mereology
- Mereotopology
- Model of hierarchical complexity
- Modifiable areal unit problem
- Nicolai Hartmann
- Scale (analytical tool)
- Spatial scale
- Structuralism (biology)
- The central science
- Tree of knowledge system
- Unity of science
- Vitalism
References
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Arguments against levels of organization
- Eronen, Markus I.; Brooks, Daniel Stephen (5 February 2018). "Levels of organization in biology". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018 ed.). See the section: "2.4 Levels skepticism and deflationary accounts".
- Eronen, Markus I. (January 2015). "Levels of organization: a deflationary account" (PDF). .
- Eronen, Markus I. (3 August 2015). "Are there levels out there?". scientiasalon.wordpress.com. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- Eronen, Markus I. (December 2013). "No levels, no problems: downward causation in neuroscience" (PDF). JSTOR 10.1086/673898.
- Guttman, Burton S. (February 1976). "Is 'levels of organization' a useful biological concept?". JSTOR 1297326.
- Noble, Denis (February 2012). "A theory of biological relativity: no privileged level of causation". Interface Focus. 2 (1): 55–64. PMID 23386960.
- Potochnik, Angela (2017). "Levels and fields of science". Idealization and the aims of science. Chicago: OCLC 975478843.
- Potochnik, Angela (2021). "Our world isn't organized into levels". In Brooks, Daniel S.; DiFrisco, James; Wimsatt, William C. (eds.). Levels of organization in the biological sciences. Vienna series in theoretical biology. Cambridge, MA: OCLC 1184123324.
- Potochnik, Angela; McGill, Brian J. (January 2012). "The limitations of hierarchical organization" (PDF). JSTOR 10.1086/663237.
- Schaffer, Jonathan (September 2003). "Is there a fundamental level?" (PDF). JSTOR 3506125.
- Thalos, Mariam (2013). Without hierarchy: the scale freedom of the universe. Oxford; New York: OCLC 827008044.