Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
formation of the organism by its parts in a way that today we could
describe as programmed.
“So the best way of putting the matter would be to say that because
the essence of man is what it is, therefore a man has such and such
parts, since there cannot be a man without them. (…) Because man
is such and such, therefore
the process of his formation must
of necessity be such and such and take place in such a
manner; which is why first this part is formed, then
that
”
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(PA 640b).
Finality is projected via form onto the parts. If this were not
the case, there would be a risk of their not being correctly put
together to form the organism composed of functional organs.
“The Cause which I have just stated as controlling the relation
between them is, of course, a Final Cause; but when we go on to
inquire in what sense it is 'necessary' that they should be related as
they are, it becomes clear that they must of necessity have been thus
related to each other from the beginning”
(PA 646b).
While Hippocrates' theory thus has similarities with the theory
of self-organisation, Aristotle's is closer to genetic determinism. In
both these theories, the central idea is that matter cannot organise
itself and must be guided by a principle which represents the whole
organism. In Aristotle's theory, as we have just seen, it is the for-
mal cause and in genetic determinism the information contained in
the DNA which, via the property of stereospecificity, provides the
molecules with order (see chapter 3).
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In both cases, the organism
is constructed owing to this principle of order with a hierarchy of
increasingly complex levels.
44
Original text not in bold.
45
The etymology again supports our analysis. Information means, literally,
'giving form'.
