This approach has gained considerable influence in recent years, specifically with regard to the biological sciences, due to the extraordinary complexity of even so-called ‘simple’ biological systems, and has led to the establishment of a new branch in biology—systems biology. Carl Woese’s view of biological systems as ‘complex dynamic organization’, rather than as a ‘molecular machine’ whose behaviour can be understood from its component parts, illustrates this new ‘systems’ way of thinking.
