While contemporary morphogenetic field theorists argue that embryonic development is governed by systemic, physical forces operating across tissues—rejecting the idea that development is merely a sequence of isolated, localized chemical reactions—they do not share the metaphysical commitments of early twentieth-century Neo-Vitalists. The Neo-Vitalists accurately diagnosed the inability of strictly mechanistic, localized models to explain 'embryonic regulation,' such as how an embryo bisected at an early stage can still develop into a perfectly proportioned, albeit smaller, organism. However, to account for this systemic regulation, Neo-Vitalists posited the existence of an 'entelechy'—an immaterial, non-spatial agency that directs cellular processes toward a predetermined adult form. Field theorists, by contrast, maintain that whole-organism regulation is an entirely physical phenomenon, emerging from complex, distributed topographical gradients.
Based on the passage, the early twentieth-century Neo-Vitalists would be most likely to respond to the morphogenetic field theorists’ explanation of embryonic regulation by arguing that:
- Athe concept of an immaterial, non-spatial agency is ultimately unnecessary if embryonic development is understood as emerging from physical forces operating systemically across tissues.
- Bany scientific model that relies on physical phenomena to describe cellular processes is entirely fabricated and fundamentally incapable of making accurate biological predictions.
- systemic, physical topographical gradients, because they are ultimately material in nature, cannot fully account for the directedness of an organism's development toward a predetermined form.Cevap
- Dthe complex, distributed topographical gradients proposed by field theorists are actually the primary mechanism through which the immaterial entelechy interacts with localized chemical reactions.
- Ethe ability of a bisected embryo to develop into a perfectly proportioned organism provides definitive proof that localized chemical reactions, rather than systemic forces, govern embryonic development.