title: [From the mechanical complexity in biology].
abstract: From the mechanical complexity in biology. Through history, each century has brought new discoveries and beliefs that have resulted in different perspectives to study life organisms. In this essay, 1 define three periods: in the first, organisms were studied in the context of their environment, in the second, on the basis of physical and chemical laws, and on the third, systemically. My analysis starts with primitive humans, continues to Aristoteles and Newton, Lamarck and Darwin, the DNA doble helix discovery, and the beginnings of reduccionism in science. I propose that life is paradigmatical, that it obeys physical and chemical laws but cannot be explained by them I review the systemic theory, autopoiesis, discipative structures and non- linear dynamics. 1 propose that the deterministic, lineal and quantitative paradigm of nature are not the only way to study nature and invite the reader to explore the complexity paradigm.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiologia, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica. lherrero@cariari.ucr.ac.cr
authors.forename: Libia Herrero
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Uribe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001695:Biology / Q000266:history*; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D013598:Systems Theory