Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 31, 2025

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
A pluralistic view of holobionts in the context of process ontology
Adrian Stencel1, Dominika Wloch-Salamon2
1Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
Abstract:
Developing precise definitions and fine categories is an important part of the scientific endeavour, enabling fidelity of transfers of knowledge and the progress of science. Currently, as a result of research on symbiotic microorganisms, science has been flooded with discoveries which appear to undermine many commonly accepted concepts and to introduce new ones that often require updated conceptualisations. One question currently being debated concerns whether or not a holobiont can be considered an organism. Based on which concept, physiology or evolutionary, of the organism is chosen, the verdict differs. We attempt here to show how a change in perspective, from that of substance ontology into that of process ontology, is capable of reconciling opposing positions within the existing discussion and enabling the implementation of conceptual pluralism.
Related Concept Videos
Levels of Organization
Molecules Are Composed of Atoms, and Biomolecules Are Assembled from Molecules:
The most basic levels include atoms, molecules, and biomolecules. Atoms, the smallest unit of ordinary matter, are composed of a nucleus and electrons. Molecules...
Cyclic Processes And Isolated Systems
In the case of a non-isolated system, the change in the internal energy is zero only if the process is cyclic. A thermodynamic process is considered cyclic if the system undergoes a series of changes and returns to its initial state.
Consider a cyclic process that returns to its initial state, undergoing a four-step process. The heat transfer along each...
Diversity of Protists I
Diversity of Protists II
Diversity of Protists III
Diversity of Protists IV

