This is a DRAFT The final version has been published in: Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology 16 (2011), pp: 29-50. 1 Toward a Post-Physicalistic Concept of the Organism ∗ Spyridon Koutroufinis 1,2 & Andreas Wessel 3 1 Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, USA 2 Institute für Philosophie, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany 3 Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany Abstract The development of organisms shows an end-state-directedness at various levels of organization. The concept of “self-organization”, arising from the study of physico- chemical processes, has been used for the understanding of the nature and causality of this specific characteristic of organismic development. Based on that concept it is currently attempted to develop computational models of complex bio-molecular systems. We believe, however, that essential differences exist between physico- chemical and biological systems, which must be taken into account for future theoretical work. We discuss, e.g., the relationship between static and dynamic quantities, which limits the feasibility of mathematical modeling of the dynamics of organismic development. To grasp the logic of the organismic causality we outline a post- physicalistic concept of organisms based on the idea of an intrinsic nature, which is not static, but rather the process of the production of information. 1. Introduction An end-state-directedness (Endgerichtetheit) can be observed in all organisms with respect to the dynamics of development at various levels of organization. Typical examples include embryogenesis, growth, regeneration of organs and cell division. The description of the intra-organismic causality that steers such processes is one of the central tasks of theoretical biology since its origin. End-state directed processes occur however in physical and technological systems. The development of fast computers since the 1960’s has made possible the computation and simulation of physical- chemical systems, whose causality can be described only with the help of non-linear mathematics. Under certain conditions some non-linear systems can display end-state ∗ Translated from the German by William R. Woodward, Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA