Elsevier S & T

Reviving the Living: Meaning Making in Living Systems

Neuman, Yair

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Table of contents
  • Cover
  • Series Dedicationv
  • Acknowledgmentsvii
  • Dedicationix
  • Prefacexi
  • Prologuexv
  • Table of Contentsxxiii
  • Part 1. How Low Can You Go? Reductionism and its Limitations1
  • Chapter 1. What is Reductionism?5
  • Cat-logue 111
  • Chapter 2. Who is Reading the Book of Life?15
  • Chapter 3. Genetics: From Grammar to Meaning Making19
  • 1. The Complementarity of Syntax and Pragmatics20
  • 2. Is DNA a Language?22
  • 3. From Sequence to Function25
  • 4. Proteins: When Complexity Prevails29
  • 5. The Genetic System: Simple Mapping or a Complex Beehive?34
  • 6. The Reader’s Role38
  • 7. Summary and Conclusions39
  • Chapter 4. A Point for Thought: Why are Organisms Irreducible?41
  • 1. Introduction41
  • 2. Why Do We Need Signs?42
  • 3. Life’s Irreducible Structure43
  • 4. Transcending the View ‘‘From Within’’45
  • 5. Information as a ‘‘Difference That Makes a Difference’’48
  • 6. Machines of Oblivion49
  • 7. Reductionism is Impossible Because We are Irreversible51
  • 8. The Digital and the Analogical51
  • 9. Conclusions52
  • Chapter 5. A Point for Thought: Does the Genetic System Include a Meta-Language?55
  • 1. Introduction55
  • 2. ‘‘Junk’’ DNA: Is It Really Junk?56
  • 3. Is Keeping the Junk ‘‘Energetically Favorable’’ to Deletion?58
  • 4. ncRNAs as a Meta-Language60
  • 5. The Map and the Territory61
  • 6. Why Do We Need a Meta-Language?64
  • 7. Meta-Language is Inevitable65
  • 8. The Importance of In Between68
  • 9. Conclusions69
  • Cat-logue 271
  • Chapter 6. Immunology: From Soldiers to Housewives75
  • 1. The Innate and the Adaptive75
  • 2. The Agents of the Specific Immune Response79
  • 3. Immune Recognition79
  • Chapter 7. A Point for Thought: Immune Specificity and Brancusi’s Kiss83
  • Summary83
  • 1. On Miraculous Drugs and Biological Specificity83
  • 2. Specificity in Immune Recognition84
  • 3. Specificity as Meaning Making85
  • 4. Conclusions91
  • Chapter 8. A Point for Thought: Reflections on the Immune Self95
  • Summary95
  • 1. Introduction95
  • 2. Danger!98
  • 3. A Reductionist Explanation of the Immune Self99
  • 4. Burnet and Saussure105
  • 5. Jerne and Peirce108
  • 6. Cohen and Volosinov112
  • 7. The Nose and the Finger117
  • 8. The Testes and the Immune Self120
  • 9. Conclusions124
  • Cat-logue 3129
  • Part 2. What is the Meaning of this Story?131
  • Chapter 9. Meaning Making in Language and Biology133
  • 1. Metaphorical Thinking133
  • 2. Living Systems and Boundary Conditions135
  • 3. Meaning Making138
  • 4. Meaning Making, Organization, and Disorganization139
  • 5. Meaning and Interaction140
  • 6. Implications143
  • 7. A Final Comment: ‘‘Let Truth Be Raised Up from the Ground!’’144
  • Chapter 10. God’s Sacred Words147
  • 1. The ‘‘Book of Life’’ and the Book of Genesis155
  • Chapter 11. It Means Nothing161
  • 1. Life is Meaning Making167
  • Chapter 12. A Point for Thought: Meaning„Bridging the Gap between Physics and Semantics171
  • Summary171
  • 1. Introduction171
  • 2. Information: Different Questions Lead to Different Answers173
  • 3. Information: A ‘‘Naturalistic’’ Perspective175
  • 4. Interactive Machines176
  • 5. Maxwell’s Demon177
  • 6. Measurement as an Invention180
  • 7. Maxwell’s Demon in a Klein Bottle181
  • Chapter 13. The Rest is Silence185
  • 1. Wound Healing, Plasticity, and Context187
  • 2. Epigenesis188
  • 3. The Rest is Silence191
  • 4. How Do Biological Systems Know Themselves?195
  • Part 3. On the wild Side: Four Lessons199
  • Chapter 14. The Polysemy of the Sign: A Quantum Lesson201
  • Summary201
  • 1. Introduction201
  • 2. Quantum Computing: The Liar and the Truth-Teller203
  • 3. From the Digital to the Analogue208
  • 4. Discussion212
  • Chapter 15. Recursive-Hierarchy: A Lesson from the Tardigrade215
  • Summary215
  • 1. Introduction215
  • 2. Recursive-Hierarchy218
  • 3. Organization Becomes Cause in Matter221
  • 4. A Recursive-Hierarchical Metabolism?222
  • 5. A Lesson from the Physics of Computation223
  • 6. From the Baron von Münchausen to the Klein Bottle225
  • Chapter 16. Context and Memory: A Lesson from Funes the Memorious229
  • Summary229
  • 1. Introduction: ‘‘Languaging’’ in Context229
  • 2. Immune Memory232
  • 3. A Lesson from Funes the Memorious235
  • 4. Immune Memory and Aging237
  • 5. Conclusion238
  • Chapter 17. Transgradience: A Lesson from Bakhtin239
  • Summary239
  • 1. Introduction: There is No Alibi in Existence239
  • 2. Singularity in Language241
  • 3. Bakhtin on Meaning245
  • 4. Bateson and the Mind246
  • 5. The First Law of Human Perception250
  • 6. We are All Unique but Never Alone254
  • 7. From the ‘‘I’’ to the Other254
  • 8. Signs as a Bridge between the ‘‘I’’ and the Other255
  • 9. Conclusion256
  • Cat-logue 4257
  • Part 4. From Mechanics to Poiesis259
  • Chapter 18. The Poetry of Living261
  • Cat-logue 5271
  • References273
  • Name Index285
  • Subject Index287
Book details
  • Vendor Elsevier S & T
  • SKU 9780444530332
  • ISBN-13 9780080560410
  • Author Neuman, Yair
  • Category Science
  • Subject Philosophy & Social Aspects

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Modern biology portrays living systems, from the amoeba to the human organism, as mechanical toys shaped by the brute logic of natural selection. In "Reviving the Living": Meaning Making in Living Systems, Dr. Yair Neuman challenges the dogmas that frame our understanding of living systems and presents an alternative that avoids the pitfalls of non-scientific perspectives such as Vitalism and Creationism.

In this thought provoking and iconoclastic manuscript, Dr. Neuman follows the footsteps of Gregory Bateson, Mikhail Bakhtin, Michael Polanyi and others, to suggest that living systems are "meaning making" systems. Dr. Neuman delves into the unique processes of meaning making that characterize organisms as a unique category of nature, and presents new and fascinating insights into a variety of enigmatic biological phenomena from immune memory to hidden life (cryptobiosis).

Written by a polymath, Reviving the Living is a tour-de-force in interdisciplinary research which is of high interest to any reflective individual who is willing to examine the realm of the living from a novel and fascinating perspective.


* Presents a novel perspective that relates to current biological knowledge and issues
* Poses thought provoking ideas for theoretical biologists, those studying philosophy of science and the mind, cognitive scientists, semioticians, and people involved with Artificial Intelligence.
* Includes examples based in current science to illustrate core concepts and themes