Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
cells are involved in a contradiction: on the one hand they are indi-
vidualists, each one optimising its own multiplication, while on the
other, they each need the others as each uses the products of
metabolism of its neighbours. Each cell, although working for its
own good, is subordinate to the whole. It does not enjoy total free-
dom as its freedom is limited in that the cell is constrained to dif-
ferentiate in a way appropriate to the place it occupies in the society
of cells. The organism is constructed in the light of this contradic-
tion which only reflects its own relationship to the environment.
It exists as an individual because there is functional unity impli-
cating all the relationships involving exchange between the cells. At
the same time, there is no final aim in the organisation established
of creating the organism for its own sake as an individual unit. It
is the consequence of a process which ensures as best it can the life
of cells. This is illustrated by the example of the heap of individual
cells. Those in the dark layer nourish the cells in the light layer but
they do not perform this function in any finalised way. On the con-
trary, they are only functioning for their own good. The function they
acquire is a consequence of their metabolic activity and the internal
relationships which become established in the cell population. These
relationships themselves only exist because of the relationship to the
environment which polarises the exchange of nutrients.
Such a conception again challenges our firmly held beliefs. Since
we are spontaneously anthropocentric, we have a strong tendency
to believe that we are the finality of natural processes, whether in
evolution or embryogenesis. As regards evolution, the theory of nat-
ural selection puts an end to this belief despite all the religious
resistance which that theory incited. As regards embryogenesis, this
belief is perpetuated with the theory of genetic programming where
the final cause has become known as teleonomy (Pittendrigh, 1958;
Mayr, 1961; Hull, 1982). The aim of the genetic programme is to
construct the organism according to the instructions present in the
genome, all its parts, from the molecule to the organs, being dedi-
cated to this project (Fig. 11A).
We find it difficult to accept the idea that we are at the service of
our cells, rather than the reverse. Nevertheless, as with the previous
