Reductionism vs ..... In Bio system

[bottles999]

Just a quick question, Stoopid me, I cant recall a term and not sure there is a term for this. Is there a set term for those that are "non" reductionists, those that view biological system from a more systemic view?

NOTE: I am not knocking those that are purests there. So sorry if I offended anyone.

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[milliardo_L]

I don't think there is. I read somewhere the term reconstructionists, but I don't think it is widely used. So I guess they(we) are just systems biology people for now 😉

 

[mjs]

I have always hear the two arguments framed like so

holism vs. reductionism (usually used in an organismal or evolutionary sense)

hypothesis driven vs. discovery based science (classic molecular biology vs. high throughput genome center stuff)

 

[javert]

I believe the term you're looking for is "emergentists."

I believe that emergentism and holism (no 'w') are the same thing, though there could be a slight semantic difference between the two. So, I guess they (we) could be called holists too, though I've only heard and used the term 'emergentists.'

 

[PostalWookie]

damn emergent properties and non-linearity. damn them to hell

 

[mjs]

Thanks for catching the typo.

I have never heard the word emergentist before in my life, but I like what it connotes. All the molecular systems biology guys tend to call it 'systems biology' or 'discovery driven [blah]'.

From my google search I can only assume it is used frequently in systems neuroscience. Is this correct? In that case it would make sense that I've never heard it, because the only cognitive scientist I can name is, well, Francis Crick (ulp).

 

[javert]

My field is systems neuroscience, so perhaps you and Google are right that it's fairly religated to that field. I wouldn't say it's used frequently, but I've definately heard/seen the term more than most of the others listed in this thread. Still, refering to it as something like 'systems-based approach', as you mention, is more common.

 

[PostalWookie]

Single-molecule biophysics types also like to throw that term around, although not in a good way (since the whole idea kind of goes against their work)

 

[bottles999]

Thanks all!! I really appreciate the comments and has helped me a lot. Starting to look at some of the systems Bio programs now, that previously I hadn’t been.