ReviewFrontiers in physiology2019
Biological Relativity Requires Circular Causality but Not Symmetry of Causation: So, Where, What and When Are the Boundaries?
Review in Frontiers in physiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multiscale modeling of the spatial structure of stem cells in neuroblastoma patient-derived tumoroids reveals a critical role for a short-range diffusive process.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Whole-to-parts causation mechanism.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The intrinsic neuronal network of the central nervous system and its modular (subsystem) architecture in a mammal.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The place of the social in psychiatry: from structural determinants to the ecology of mind.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Review
- Dynamical theory of complex systems with two-way micro-macro causation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- New lessons from biology for economics and business: a systems approach to non-market environments.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Observational
- Personalized, disease-stage specific, rapid identification of immunosuppression in sepsis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- How is Big Data reshaping preclinical aging research?Lab animal · 2023Review
- Using network analysis to identify leverage points based on causal loop diagrams leads to false inference.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Impoverished Conceptions of Gene Causation and Therapy in Developmental Neurology.Pediatric neurology · 2023Review
- Globally invariant behavior of oncogenes and random genes at population but not at single cell level.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2023Article
- Perspectives of (/memorandum for) systems thinking on COVID-19 pandemic and pathology.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2023Article
- Proposal to Consider Chemical/Physical Microenvironment as a New Therapeutic Off-Target Approach.Pharmaceutics · 2022Article
- Network Physiology of Exercise: Beyond Molecular and Omics Perspectives.Sports medicine - open · 2022Article
- Modern physiology vindicates Darwin's dream.Experimental physiology · 2022Review
- George Orwell, objectivity, and the reality behind illusions.Perception · 2022Article
- Review
- Neurobiological reduction: From cellular explanations of behavior to interventions.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- Editorial: Prediction and explanation in biomedicine using network-based approaches.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the Principle of Biological Relativity was formulated and developed there have been many implementations in a wide range of biological fields. The purpose of this article is to assess the status of the applications of the principle and to clarify some misunderstandings. The principle requires circular causality between levels of organization. But the forms of causality are also necessarily different. They contribute in asymmetric ways. Upward causation can be represented by the differential or similar equations describing the mechanics of lower level processes. Downward causation is then best represented as determining initial and boundary conditions. The questions tackled in this article are: (1) where and when do these boundaries exist? and (2) how do they convey the influences between levels? We show that not all boundary conditions arise from higher-level organization. It is important to distinguish those that do from those that don't. Both forms play functional roles in organisms, particularly in their responses to novel challenges. The forms of causation also change according to the levels concerned. These principles are illustrated with specific examples.
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