Chapter 2
Complexity and coherence in biological design
An evolutionary-developmental account
Article outline
- 2.1Systems: Complexity, hierarchy and coherence
- 2.1.1Networks of matching structures and functions
- 2.1.2Complexity and hierarchic structure
- 2.1.3Is pre-biological complex organization the same?
- 2.2The rise of complex coherence in biological design
- 2.2.1From parasitic bacteria to symbiotic organelles in the protozoan
cell
- Stage I.Parasitism
- Stage II.Symbiosis
- 2.2.2From protozoa to metazoa: The rise of multi-cellular organisms
- 2.3Intermezzo: Spatio-temporal experience and the advent of dimensions
- 2.3.1Preliminaries
- 2.3.2Experience in a one-dimensional universe of linear time
- 2.3.3Experience in a universe of time plus one spatial dimension: Early upright organisms
- 2.3.4Motion and the advent of a three-dimensional universe
- 2.3.5Purposive motion and the advent of agency
- 2.4From early multi-cell simplicity to tissues, organs and system
complexity
- 2.5Body design, molecular classification and evolutionary
hierarchies
- 2.6Final reflections
- 2.6.1Coherence and context in biological design
- 2.6.1.1Internal coherence
- 2.6.1.2External coherence
- 2.6.2The seesaw of size aggregation
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Notes