Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2013

The Reflection of Life

Functional Entailment and Imminence in Relational Biology

Authors:

  • Presents further developments in the field of relational biology by focusing on the theme "How do two life forms interact"?
  • Advances the field of relational biology from both a mathematical and a biological point-of-view
  • Introduces "imminence mappings" which facilitate further investigation of functional entailment in complex relational networks
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xliii
  2. Pentateuchus Becoming Mapping

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-14
    2. Mapping Origins

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 15-27
    3. From Points to Sets

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 29-45
    4. Principles of Set-Valued Mappings

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 47-72
    5. Censusing Independence

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 73-86
    6. Set-Valued Mappings Redux

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 87-108
  3. Functional Entailment

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-110
    2. The Logic of Entailment

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 111-123
    3. The Imminence Mapping

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 125-139
    4. Imminence of Life

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 141-151
    5. Imminence in Models

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 153-162
  4. Interacting (M,R)-Systems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-164
    2. Connections

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 165-179
    3. Symbiosis

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 181-193
    4. Pathophysiology

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 195-210
    5. Relational Virology

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 211-222
    6. Therapeutics

      • A. H. Louie
      Pages 223-234
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 235-243

About this book

ā€‹ā€‹ā€‹A. H. Louieā€™s The Reflection of Life: Functional Entailment and Imminence in Relational Biology is a continuation of the exploratory journey in relational biology which began with his 2009 monograph More Than Life Itself: A Synthetic Continuation in Relational Biology. The theme of his first book was ā€˜What is life?ā€™; the theme of this sequel is ā€œHow do two life forms interact?ā€ Biology is a subject concerned with organization of relations. Relational biology is the approach that advocates ā€˜function dictates structureā€, rather than ā€˜structure implies functionā€™. It is mathematics decoded into biological realizations. The book demonstrates some of the powers of the approach of relational biology, and illustrates how pertinent problems in biology can be better addressed this way. In the first volume the theory was developed by using partially ordered sets, lattices, simulations, models, Aristotleā€™s four causes, graphs, categories, simple and complex systems, anticipatory systems, and metabolism-repair [(M,R)-] systems.

Ā Here in the second volume, these tools are expanded to employ set-valued mappings, adjacency matrices, random graphs, and interacting entailment networks. The theory of set-valued mappings culminates in the imminence mapping, which equips the further Ā investigation of functional entailment in complex relational networks. Imminence in (M,R)-networks that model living systems addresses the topics of biogenesis and natural selection. Interacting (M,R)-networks with mutually entailing processes serve as Ā models in the study of symbiosis and pathophysiology. The formalism also provides a natural framework for a relational theory of virology and oncology.

This book will serve researchers and graduate students in mathematics and biology.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ottawa, Canada

    A. H. Louie

About the author

Dr. Aloisius H. Louie is a mathematical biologist. His 1981 PhD thesis topic was on the abstract formulation of categorical system theory in biology. Robert Rosen, then Killam Professor of Biomathematics at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), was his mentor. His other degrees are BSc (1978, Honours Mathematics and Biology) and MA (1979, Pure Mathematics) from the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada). Dr. Louie's research subjects have encompassed abstract formulations, mathematical modelling, and computer simulations of various natural and physical phenomena, including dynamic behaviour of protein molecules, enzyme-substrate recognition, processes of irreversible thermodynamics, human-pollutant interactions, the cell biology of senescence, and electromagnetics. His premier interest, however, remains the epistemological aspects of mathematical biology.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access