What is vitalism?

What is vitalism?

• A. The belief that physical parts alone explain life
• B. The living organism is greater than its parts
• C. The mechanism of cellular metabolism
• D. The unity of the immune and endocrine systems

Answer: (B)

Vitalism holds that life cannot be reduced to physical parts and laws alone; there is a vital principle that gives living beings properties beyond the sum of their components. This view says the living organism is greater than its parts—the whole exhibits qualities and activities that can’t be fully explained just by examining each part in isolation. Historically, vitalists argued that chemistry and physics of molecules weren’t enough to account for life. The other ideas describe a strictly physical or mechanistic view (life explained entirely by parts or metabolism) or are not about the life principle. So the statement that the living organism is greater than its parts best captures vitalism.

Vitalism holds that life cannot be reduced to physical parts and laws alone; there is a vital principle that gives living beings properties beyond the sum of their components. This view says the living organism is greater than its parts—the whole exhibits qualities and activities that can’t be fully explained just by examining each part in isolation. Historically, vitalists argued that chemistry and physics of molecules weren’t enough to account for life. The other ideas describe a strictly physical or mechanistic view (life explained entirely by parts or metabolism) or are not about the life principle. So the statement that the living organism is greater than its parts best captures vitalism.