Description

Foundations of Mathematical Biology, Volume III, is devoted to the treatment of behavior of whole organisms and groups of organisms. The viewpoint taken throughout the book is a holistic, phenomenological one. That is, the integrated behavior of these organisms and groups of organisms is not, in general, referred back to specific structural properties of interacting subunits (as in a reductionist scheme), but is rather treated on its own terms without invoking the properties of lower levels of organization.
The book begins with an overview of organization and control in physiological systems, with emphasis on the mathematical techniques involved in more detailed investigations of specific physiological mechanisms. Separate chapters cover the cardiovascular system, with particular reference to blood flow; gross problems of organic form; a relational overview of physics, biology, and sociology; the automata theory in the context of the central nervous system; and populations of interacting organisms. The final chapter discusses the material presented in the entire work, some of its philosophical presuppositions and implications, and the possibility of constructing a unified theory of mathematical biology.