The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living SystemsThe vitality and accessibility of Fritjof Capra's ideas have made him perhaps the most eloquent spokesperson of the latest findings emerging at the frontiers of scientific, social, and philosophical thought. In his international bestsellers The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point, he juxtaposed physics and mysticism to define a new vision of reality. In The Web of Life, Capra takes yet another giant step, setting forth a new scientific language to describe interrelationships and interdependence of psychological, biological, physical, social, and cultural phenomena--the "web of life." During the past twenty-five years, scientists have challenged conventional views of evolution and the organization of living systems and have developed new theories with revolutionary philosophical and social implications. Fritjof Capra has been at the forefront of this revolution. In The Web of Life, Capra offers a brilliant synthesis of such recent scientific breakthroughs as the theory of complexity, Gaia theory, chaos theory, and other explanations of the properties of organisms, social systems, and ecosystems. Capra's surprising findings stand in stark contrast to accepted paradigms of mechanism and Darwinism and provide an extraordinary new foundation for ecological policies that will allow us to build and sustain communities without diminishing the opportunities for future generations. Now available in paperback for the first time, The Web of Life is cutting-edge science writing in the tradition of James Gleick's Chaos, Gregory Bateson's Mind and Matter, and Ilya Prigogine's Order Out of Chaos. |
Contents
CHAPTER | 3 |
CHAPTER 5 | 75 |
A New Synthesis | 157 |
Ecological Literacy | 297 |
Bateson Revisited | 305 |
PART FOUR | 313 |
| 322 | |
| 325 | |
| 335 | |
Other editions - View all
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems Fritjof Capra No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
animals attractors autopoiesis autopoietic autopoietic network bacteria basic Bateson behavior Bertalanffy binary networks biologists biology brain Cartesian catalytic cells century chaos theory characteristic chemical cognition complex components concept cyberneticists cybernetics cycles daisies Daisyworld deep ecology describe developed dissipative structures dynamics Earth ecological ecosystems emerge energy environment equations equilibrium evolution evolutionary evolved example feedback loops Figure fractal Francisco Varela Gaia Gaia theory genes genetic Heinz von Foerster human Humberto Maturana idea interactions James Lovelock Julia set Kauffman language living organisms living systems Lovelock Lynn Margulis Mandelbrot Margulis and Sagan mathematical mathematicians Maturana and Varela mechanistic metabolic molecules nature nonlinear organismic oxygen paradigm pattern of organization peptides phase space phenomena physical plants Prigogine and Stengers Prigogine's produce Quoted in Capra relationships Santiago theory scientific scientists self-organization social species structural changes systems theory systems thinking tion transformation understanding variables whole Wiener