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Long-range Energy Continua in the Living Cell: Protochemical Considerations

  • Conference paper
Coherent Excitations in Biological Systems

Part of the book series: Proceedings in Life Sciences ((LIFE SCIENCES))

Abstract

When we approach life at the level of the single cell and enter the domain of cellular biochemistry/biophysics, we find (contrary to the picture given in standard textbooks) a highly fragmented status rerum, largely dominated by an air of reductionism (viz., 1+1 = 2). Most attempts at understanding the essence of the “living state” at this level have a materialistic basis. Such an outlook all too often fails to relate the fact, that living systems are, by their nature, defined in a dynamic sense. Hence, we should study the cell by “reducing” it, not to its elements of matter, rather to its elementary processes. A “process” view imparts an emphasis on energetics and energy flow. Here, we are obliged to apply a lesson gleaned from physics — that of matter/energy duality in physical systems. One finds, that matter is the substance of things, while energy is the moving principle /2/.

“The visible world is neither matter nor spirit, but the invisible organization of energy” /l/.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 70148, USA

    G. Rickey Welch

  2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia

    Michael N. Berry

Authors
  1. G. Rickey Welch
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  2. Michael N. Berry
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, The University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    Herbert Fröhlich

  2. Max-Plank-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-7000, Stuttgart 80, Germany

    Herbert Fröhlich  & Friedrich Kremer  & 

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© 1983 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Welch, G.R., Berry, M.N. (1983). Long-range Energy Continua in the Living Cell: Protochemical Considerations. In: Fröhlich, H., Kremer, F. (eds) Coherent Excitations in Biological Systems. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69186-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69186-7_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69188-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69186-7

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