Definitions HQ

An Organism (n.) articulated ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to infinity is a contradiction: an endless unfolding taken as never completed and yet as already completed, whole and divided up.

An Organism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a thing whose parts produce one another, so that the whole is not assembled by an idea from outside but holds itself together from within.

An Organism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a mere machine: a machine has only motive power, but an organized being has a formative power it can pass on to matter that lacks it.

Organism (n.) are ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the only things in nature that cannot be thought possible except as ends — they are what first gives teleology a foothold in science.

An Organism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a product in which every part is reciprocally both end and means, and nothing is in vain.

An Organism (n.) once ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠lifted out of blind mechanism must be judged by purpose all the way through: even skin, bone and hair are put in place by a cause that must be judged teleologically.

An Organism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an end of nature, yet it must still be linked to nature by mechanical laws, or it would not be a product of nature.

An Organism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a natural machine whose parts work not each from its own ground but from one common ground — the whole causing the causality of the parts, which is entirely contrary to physico-mechanical causes.