Contemplations on the paradigm of self and nonself discrimination and on other concepts ruling contemporary immunology.
The present paper critically deals with the widely accepted but nevertheless in recent years controversely discussed paradigms that the immune system may discriminate between self and nonself and harmless and dangerous, respectively. Concepts like these, and there are some more in actual immunology, -show that contemporary life sciences still are biased towards teleologic and anthropocentric thinking, though the existence of a priori purpose directed causalities has been denied by philosophers from time immemorial. A problem of current immunological language is in this context the usage of numerous metaphors predominantly borrowed from the field of brain functions, a usance that holds the risk of aggravating misinterpretations. In this context some of the paradigms ruling current immunology will be reviewed and discussed in the light of an emergent understanding of the fundamental principles of complex systems being widely spread in our inanimate and animate world.
Thiele
H G
HG
Department of Immunology, University Hospital Hamburg, Germany.
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D017634:Self Tolerance; D009626:Terminology as Topic