Glossary
at the Rupert Sheldrake site.note: the following definitions are all from the Glossary
at the Rupert Sheldrake site.
formative causation, hypothesis
of: The hypothesis that organisms or morphic
units at all levels of complexity are organized by morphic
fields, which are themselves influenced and stabilized by morphic
resonance from all previous similar morphic units
memory: The capacity
for remembering, recalling, recollecting, or recognizing. From the mechanistic
point of view, animal and human memory depend on material memory traces
within the nervous system. From the point of view of the hypothesis
of formative causation, memory in its various forms, both conscious
and unconscious, is due to morphic resonance.
morphic field: A
field within and around a morphic unit which organizes
its characteristic structure and pattern of activity. Morphic fields underlie
the form and behaviour of holons or morphic units at all levels of complexity.
The term morphic field includes morphogenetic,
behavioural, social, cultural, and mental fields. Morphic fields
are shaped and stabilized by morphic resonance from previous similar morphic
units, which were under the influence of fields of the same kind. They
consequently contain a kind of cumulative memory
and tend to become increasingly habitual.
morphic resonance:
The influence of previous structures of activity on subsequent similar
structures of activity organized by morphic fields.
Through morphic resonance, formative causal influences pass through or
across both space and time, and these influences are assumed not to fall
off with distance in space or time, but they come only from the past. The
greater the degree of similarity, the greater the influence of morphic
resonance. In general, morphic units closely resemble
themselves in the past and are subject to self-resonance from their own
past states.
morphic unit: A unit
of form or organization, such as an atom,
molecule, crystal, cell, plant,
animal,
pattern of instinctive behaviour, social group, element of culture, ecosystem,
planet, planetary system, or galaxy. Morphic units are organized in nested
hierarchies of units within units: a crystal, for example, contains molecules,
which contain atoms, which contain electrons and nuclei, which contain
nuclear particles, which contain quarks.
morphogenesis: The
coming into being of form.
morphogenetic fields:
Fields that play a causal role in morphogenesis.
This term, first proposed in the 1920s, is now widely used by developmental
biologists, but the nature of morphogenetic fields has remained obscure.
On the hypothesis of formative causation, they
are regarded as morphic fields stabilized by morphic
resonance.
All of which gives the following diagram:
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Here is only one possible perspective on how morphic resonance and formative causation fits in to the big picture regarding human understanding (and bias) of the universe:
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Morphogenetic
Fields - a page of links
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