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The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision Reprint Edition

by Fritjof Capra (Author), Pier Luigi Luisi (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 440 ratings
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Over the past thirty years, a new systemic conception of life has emerged at the forefront of science. New emphasis has been given to complexity, networks, and patterns of organisation, leading to a novel kind of 'systemic' thinking. This volume integrates the ideas, models, and theories underlying the systems view of life into a single coherent framework. Taking a broad sweep through history and across scientific disciplines, the authors examine the appearance of key concepts such as autopoiesis, dissipative structures, social networks, and a systemic understanding of evolution. The implications of the systems view of life for health care, management, and our global ecological and economic crises are also discussed. Written primarily for undergraduates, it is also essential reading for graduate students and researchers interested in understanding the new systemic conception of life and its implications for a broad range of professions from economics and politics to medicine, psychology and law.
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  1. ISBN-10
    9781316616437
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1316616437
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 29, 2016
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.69 x 1.16 x 9.61 inches
  8. Print length
    510 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Partly an enjoyable survey of exciting new developments in systems biology, valuable to any student of biology or science, and partly a bold blueprint for how we might preserve our future on Earth."
New Scientist

"A magisterial study of the scientific basis for an integrated worldview grounded in the wholeness that generations of one-eyed reductionists could not see. The authors succeed brilliantly!"
David W. Orr, Oberlin College

"Gives us a sound synthesis of the best science and theory on the connectedness of all living things, the dynamics of emergence and self-organization as conceived by Francisco Varela. This volume offers a profound framework for understanding our place on the planet, for better or worse. And if we apply the insights offered by Capra and Luisi, it will be for the better should be required reading for today's young, tomorrow's leaders, and anyone who cares about life on this planet."
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and Ecological Intelligence

"What is life? What is a human being? How can new discoveries about nature and ourselves keep us from becoming the first self-endangered species? Capra and Luisi's dazzling synthesis explains how moving beyond mechanistic, linear, reductionist habits is revealing startling new answers to perennial questions of philosophy and practice. Sir Francis Bacon's goal of 'the enlargement of the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible' has put humanity in serious trouble. But today, rebuilding our thinking, language, and actions around Darwin, not Descartes, and around modern biology, not outmoded physics, creates rich new options. Driven by the co-evolution of business with civil society, these can build a fairer, healthier, cooler, safer world. The Systems View of Life is a lucid, wide-ranging guide to living maturely, kindly, and durably with each other and with other beings on the only home we have."
Amory B. Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute

"This book feels like a Rosetta stone for me, unlocking connections and roots of a panoply of different ideas and concepts. It starts walking us through the history of science – and how scientific models influenced most aspect of cultures. This book pulls the big changes together and integrates them, across disciplines into a glorious big picture, for each field. As I was reading the portion of the book covering the history of systems thinking I realized that I was suddenly feeling very excited, like I was in a movie, sitting on the edge of my seat. This is what a great writer and a great book are supposed to do It has had a huge impact on my way of thinking about so many things. It doesn't matter what your area of work or interest is. This book is essential reading to face the future with eyes wide open."
Rob Kall, OpEdNews.com

"A valuable overview of the discipline."
Stephen Lewis, The Biologist

'What a fine, erudite, synoptic, lovely book!' Stuart Kauffman, University of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle

Book Description

The first volume to integrate life's biological, cognitive, social, and ecological dimensions into a single, coherent framework.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1316616436
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (September 29, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 510 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781316616437
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1316616437
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.18 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.69 x 1.16 x 9.61 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 440 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Pier Luigi Luisi

    Pier Luigi Luisi

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    Pier Luigi Luisi took a degree in Chemistry at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and held internships in the USA (Oregon, Institute of Molecular biology) and the Soviet Union (Leningrad, Institute of Macromolecular science).

    From 1971 to 2003 his professional career was spent at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. He became a full professor of Macromolecular Chemistry in the Department of Material Science, where he directed the Biopolymers section. He has been carrying research into the mechanism of enzymes, and the self-organization and self-reproduction of synthetic and natural systems.

    Subsequently, he focused on the origins of life and, later, on synthetic biology, that of minimal cells in particular. Prof. Luisi, when working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, initiated in 1985 the Cortona-week, an interdisciplinary residential week in which graduate students were working together with artists, musicians, politicians, religious leaders, etc., with the aim of discovering new and broader horizons of life.

    The last books of prof Luisi are: "Essays on life science", Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2020; and “Le cinque porte della felicità” and “Il posto dei fichidindia” 2020.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Fritjof Capra

    Fritjof Capra

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., physicist and systems theorist, is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley. Capra is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics (1975), The Web of Life (1996), The Hidden Connections (2002), The Science of Leonardo (2007), and Learning from Leonardo (2013). He is coauthor, with Pier Luigi Luisi, of the multidisciplinary textbook, The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

    www.fritjofcapra.net

    author photo: Basso Cannarsa

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
440 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John
5.0 out of 5 stars Life as emergence, our unity with nature, and why we started down this road to disaster
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2021
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This is a refreshing look at life based on a simple premise: that life is a self-regulating network in which essential properties arise not from the constituent parts themselves, but from the configuration of relationships within the integrated system as a whole. The authors guide us through an incredible range of scientific disciplines, revealing the uncanny ramifications of this subtle change in perspective. In the systems view, the parts have no meaning as isolated entities; they are defined only by their interconnections; they are inseparable patterns within the larger web. This approach is an eye-opening contrast to the mainstream viewpoint of reductionistic analysis, and the authors explain how reductionism had shaped our culture to the detriment of the environment we cohabit.

The Systems View of Life treats readers to a rational expansion of self towards unity with the fabric of life and oneness with the universe, much like the monism of Advaita Vedanta or Monistic Idealism. Every distinction we presuppose as individuals, as nations, and as a species breaks down under this unflinching scrutiny. When we let go of our individual pride, we allow room instead for inclusive cooperation. Nothing less than this kind of fundamental shift of identity will prepare us to face the multifaceted global crises we have created for the biosphere.

This book exhibits the systems view of life within the context of numerous academic disciplines including: history, philosophy, economics, physics, genetics, mathematics, ecology, biology, evolution, chemistry, cognitive linguistics, spirituality, sociology, medicine, and climatology. It is written for undergraduates but approachable to casual readers willing to delve deep into several different scientific fields. It is not an easy read, nor is it short, but the vision is beautiful, and the elevated viewpoint is worth every page. My only serious critique is that the systemic solutions to our global threats proposed in the last chapter seem generally unrealistic. However, to be fair, I couldn’t do better.

The very notion of “I” is an emergent property arising from the simultaneous occurrence and resonance of feelings, memories, and thoughts, so that the “I” is not localized anywhere, but rather is an organized pattern without a center.

When we look at the world around us, we find that we are not thrown into chaos and randomness but are part of a great order, a grand symphony of life. Every atom in our body was once a part of previous bodies - living or nonliving - and will be a part of future bodies. In this sense, our body will not die but will live on, again and again, because life lives on. Moreover, we share not only life’s molecules, but also its basic principles of organization with the rest of the living world. And since our mind, too, is embodied, our concepts and metaphors are embedded in the web of life together with our bodies and brains. Indeed, we belong to the universe, and this experience of belonging can make our lives profoundly meaningful.”
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Nomi Redding
5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, important book
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2023
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Capra and co-author Luisi amaze with the breadth and depth of their treatment of Systems theories, history, development, and revolutionary importance to modern life and research. As I do with most significant nonfiction, I am reading passage by passage and taking notes. Very clearly explicated and illustrated. I am grateful for this work.
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Kenny B.
4.0 out of 5 stars The book does a good job of explaining interdependent origination from an interdisciplinary scientific ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2017
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In my opinion, there should be a course that is taught along with this textbook that is prerequisite for every undergraduate degree. The book does a good job of explaining interdependent origination from an interdisciplinary scientific point of view. We desperately need to overcome our mechanistic, binary view of the world and our lived sense of separateness from it in order to ensure the longevity of our, along with every other, species on this planet. Education and inner reflection are keys to overcome the maelstrom of conditioning that has been imposed upon us all. One can only hope that the modern era zeitgeist which has prevailed since the Industrial Revolution will give way to a more holistic/systemic/cooperative way of life. In all probability, the future generations of all sentient beings are dependent upon it. As a fitting conclusion to the book, Capra and Luisi offer us an inspiring quote from Vaclav Havel:

"The kind of hope that I often think about...I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope within us or we don't; it is a dimension of the soul, and it's not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation...[Hope] is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."
10 people found this helpful
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Mike De Freitas
5.0 out of 5 stars The book was great overall and I'm in so much agreement with it's ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014
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The book was great overall and I'm in so much agreement with it's basic premise that the particular and its own particular properties need to be understood in it's relation within the whole that I can't say much more on it.

But I can't get out of my mind the authors discussion of Intelligent Design. Why did they take up this argument. And why - like so many fallaciously do - did they try to push a particular philosophical perspective?

Forgive me if this is not what you were interested in reading - as I said, this was a great book packed with the latest knowledge of why and how a systems view of life is fundamental - but i have to get this off my chest.

When you go to the route of things, you can't actually "know" with any certainty whether there is or is not a Creator. And the idea that you can use "logic" - such as the structure defines function or vice versa isn't really useful or compelling as an argument.

However things came to be as they are today, through the processes we know that work i.e evolution, we can never really know whether WE were the ones to know this. Since what are scientific facts but mental representations human beings make of some approximate cause for a natural phenomena. And what are these representations if nothing but CREATIONS of our own minds. So why are we making pronouncements about things that lie outside - fundamentally - our capacity to understand.

If a Creator exists, by definition, he would be everything. All that exists. All that has existed up till the present and the future. It's simply everything. So it doesn't create any problems, at least for me, that todays reality can be appreciably explained via evolution, biology, physics, etc and yet there remains an efficient indelible mystery: did this happen by accident? Sure, some will say. Cause they WANT to believe that. For whatever developmental history that only they (and perhaps their psychoanalyst) can know, they've become inclined to an atheistic - world without a God - perspective. Nothing wrong with that. You aren't any more likely to be less moral because of it. Compassion is a personal experience. All of us are capable of the greatest wisdom, and insight if only were patient and humble enough to find it within ourselves.

But how can we claim to know that the various causes that led to the creation of todays species weren't orchestrated by INTELLIGENT DESIGN to be perceived, by us, the only creature on this planet to bear witness to this wondrous reality, at this point in our history. This improbable world with laws that allow this bounty to blossom.

I mean. This is how inherently sticky the question is. You can provide a perspective that may be appealing to you and others - and even me! - and yet an equally plausible, if intelligently carried out, perspective, can be crafted to support the view of an intelligent designer.

So I personally HATE discussions where one party assumes the knowledge to know what is more "logical' or "scientifically valid" - as if they forgot that even science can only describe things WITHIN a system, and can't explain the origin of the system, and thus the surreal experience some people have with the facticity of Existing. Of living in a world with a specific, highly symbolic quality to it. And is this something the human being perceives, even perhaps, illusory? Yea. And so? The fact that were confronted with such a situation - which you see as "illusion" but I may find to have an ultimate, existential value - is neither for you or I to make final pronouncements about. Just accept that ultimately it is a matter of personal opinion - Affect - and that although God may exist - or may not - we should try to respect the spiritual approach that another person feel towards the world. Nothing is more alarming than when a person who claims to be spiritual is willing to shred to pieces the world view that another person has every right to hold on to - if only because it has taken on meaning, significance and homeostatic status within their organism.

Me personally, I like the idea of God, though I know I can fully live without it. So, if relativity is the question - Is God necessary? - thats a personal matter for an individual to figure out for himself. For me, I WANT to make him valid, because the mystery of existence - it's awe-power - is something not only to take in spiritually and emotionally. But even something to be explored within your awareness, to be symbolized within words.

I mean, don't try to take away someones right to find meaning UNIQUE to them in being alive. Don't act as if an atheistic approach is the only respectable one.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Rogi
5.0 out of 5 stars ESCENCIAL
Reviewed in Mexico on April 9, 2022
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Cuanto más pase el tiempo y sigamos como humanidad generando los mismos errores sociales y económicos expresados en forma de una profunda inequidad, o los errores ambientales producto de nuestra visión hegemónica y extractivista (antropoceno) cuanto más nos adentremos en esta crisis, más relevante y esencial se vuelve este libro. Es complejo de leer. Pero es fundamental para poder generar las soluciones que necesitamos como humanidad para nuestra crisis civilizatoria
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Fabio
3.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction and insights
Reviewed in Italy on July 18, 2023
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It's a good and original book but it should contain a detailed description of the limitations of the presented theory. Paper and volume overall quality is poor and could be improved.
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KurtRWard
5.0 out of 5 stars Will change your view of the world!
Reviewed in the Netherlands on January 16, 2023
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The Introduction alone will change your view of man and the universe. This book is so critical to our future survival and how we progress as society. I cannot recommend this any higher than a must read for everyone!
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Rajneesh Chowdhury (Management Consultant)
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, Marvellous!
Reviewed in India on August 16, 2021
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This is a must-read book for all. It will change the way you view the world...
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Laurie
5.0 out of 5 stars GEM WORTH DEVOURING
Reviewed in Canada on August 3, 2017
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Having been blown away by The Web of Life so many years ago, I was eager to grab this one. And only 150 pages into it, I am chewing it up like a Christmas feast. One of the most remarkable features of Capra's work is his ability to summarize bodies of knowledge, disciplines and schools, and deal with them chronologically while painting a panoramic view over thousands of years of scientific study. He can then swoop into the core of any science in question and capture its essence in only a few pages or even a few paragraphs. The book is coherent, extremely well organized, and very well written. A delight to read.
5 people found this helpful
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