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A New Science of Life - The Hypothesis of Formative Causation
A New Science of Life The Hypothesis of Formative Causation Author:Rupert Sheldrake Upon the Englsih publication of this controversial book in 1981, Naturre, one of Britain's leading scientific magazines, called it "the best candidate for burning there has been for many years." The equally distinguished New Science stated, "It is quite clear that one is dealing here with an important scientific inquiry into the nature of biolog... more »ical and physical reality."
A NEW SCIENCE OF LIFE attacks two major unsolved biological problem: What is the nature of life? How are the shapes and instincts of living organisms determined? Dr. Sheldrake's answer is the hypothesis of formative causation, which proposes that the form, development, and behavior of living organisms are shaped and maintained by "morphogenetic fields." These fields are molded by the form and behavior of past organisms of the same species through direct connections across both space and time. The hypothesis brings into question many of our fundamental concepts about nature, brain function, and consciousness; in effect, it reinterprets the regularities of nature as being more like habits than reflections of timeless laws.
This revised and expanded edition contains an appendix of comments and discussions provoked by the first edition, as well as information on experiments conducted to examine the validity of Sheldrake's unorthodox hypothesis. It is such a radical departure from our current way of looking at the world that Sheldrake himself acknowledges, "If there does turn out to be something init, it will probably have implications that are nothing short of revolutionary."« less