Customer Reviews

A New Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Morphic Resonance

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This is an excellent book, a hypothesis on an unconventional theory that just as well can be completely acknowledged as science, as many of the conventional science theories always started with unproven hypothesis, such as Newton's gravitational fields until proven at a later time. Quantum physics, relativity, and many other ideas are true science without fully documented mechanistically determined answers all tested in line with Karl Popper. If your a science reader and interested in biology, physics and evolution, then this book is a must to read. It is the conventionalists and those who are unable to allow a paradigm shift that have attacked this theory as pseudo science. This book is from 1981 and since then there have been more experiments regarding this theory and also Sheldrake has another book from 1995 on the same with more details called The Presence of the Past.

The theory consists of an addition to the chemical and physical properties of materialism, something in addition to the DNA code in random mutations and non-random natural selection, an additional force what many vitialists have always acknowledged; the idea of higher organizational states. And here it is the theory of morphogenetic fields and formative causation. The idea of morphogenetic fields first developed by embryologists such as Conrad Waddington and later mathematically by theoreticians such as Rene Thomas.

The ideas starts with no answer to what causes the first change, but continues with a theory as to subsequent developments. As each thought is created, enlarged, elaborated on, taught, as each experience develops a certain particular field in a particular person, animal, and all organic and inorganic matter and energy, there is a change in that particular morphogenetic field. As each change takes place in this field, an accumulation takes place and an average is taken as a composite from the whole. Anotherwards each new idea that is learned in a human becomes part of the whole where other humans can now learn this thought much easier as it now exists in the same human morphogenetic field. Rats in London taught will now increase the percentage of other rats around the world completely removed with no contact from those in London. Each morphogenetic field takes in the formation, the ideas, the properties of the whole, where as all those connected in this field experience morphogenetic resonance or the effects that have now been contributed to this field. This is what Sheldrake calls causative formation.

Each cell, each atom, all are formed from these morphogenetic fields in addition to the energy fields, and the chemical and biological properties of mechanistic and causal definitions taught by conventional science. Like a radio receiver that tunes into a particular radio wave, the radio itself acts as a receiver and yet the energy waves that operate it is not the same as the radio waves and can also affect the properties of the sound from these waves. The radio itself can also affect the properties of the sound emitted from radio signals, however both the energy fields and the radio instrument are not the same as the radio waves. And such it is with morphogenetic fields. The mechanics of the biological properties that make up physical being, our cells, bodies, brains, act as receivers to the morphogenetic fields that we connect with. It is here we are changing and choosing to various different morphogenetic fields regarding body motor movement, thought contents and so forth. As each field is affected by others and as we make changes in these fields, all connected with these fields are affected in a composite nature. Past forms affect the current forms.

The last chapter of the book is what brings it on all home with four possible conclusions;one - a modified materialism, two - the idea of the conscious self that interacts with these morphogenetic fields in using the body, which is totally apart from materialism. And this idea is not simply a ghost in a machine with energetic fields/causation but the addition of morphogenetic/formation fields. Three - the idea of creative agencies apart from our conscious selves, which can be defined as inspiration as Plato suggested a tapping into a higher source or creative fields with goals. And four - a transcendent realty or tapping into fields that have no purpose or goals but rather the wholeness of organisms at all levels of complexity as a reflection of a transcendent unity on which they depend and are derived from. This idea then affirms the conscious self and the existence of a hierarchy of creative agencies immanent within nature and the reality of a transcendent source of the universe.

The end of the book appendix has both positive and negative reviews on the book and a enlightening conversation between Sheldrake and David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order.

Sheldrake's hypothesis of morphic resonance is an expansion of the evolutionary debate into the larger problem of morphogenesis (ie, the evolution of all form), implying that the forces which shape a polypeptide molecule or the structure of galaxies are the same as those that determine the shape of a dog's tooth or the behavior of nudibranchs. The implicite heresy here is that something bigger is afoot than Darwin ever imagined, and that natural selection has little or nothing to do with the evolution of species and life. Yet Sheldrake, a bona fide scientist, is far from invoking god as the grand designer of nature. Morphic resonance is a hypothesis which will appear decidedly far-fetched and psychedelic for readers already dyed in the naturally selected wool of evolutionary theory. It will make mad-dog reductionists like Richard Dawkins positively foam at the mouth (eg: the prestigious journal 'Nature' suggests burning Sheldrake's books). This is a book for scientific minds who have come to recognize the limitations of the Darwinian doctrine yet are horrified at the creationist alternative. Sheldrake's largely speculative but compelling hypothesis, even if proved totally false, is a welcome breath of fresh air in a tired debate. I found it a fascinating read.

Sheldrake is adept at drawing theoretical correlations between various realms of science and life itself in a manner that simultaneously alienates both the poet and the scientist. How can you not love that?

Dealing with those thoughts that transcend modern language and modern scientific methodology will appeal to those readers who really want to gravitate to the cutting edge and not miss a beat.

Anything by Sheldrake is worth the price of admission into a world usually not discussed but often experienced.

Stay curious, be patient, and peer into this man's mind. He is willing to venture into those most curious areas of thought and does so with authority and humor.

I strongly recommend mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose and his book "The Emperor's New Mind" for a completely different approach to the conclusion that Mind, at least human sapience, is non-mechanistic in nature, and that current science does not have the facts or theory to explain consciousness at this point in time. He feels, and builds a very strong case for the idea, that quantum physics plays a role in the operation of the brain. I suspect that quantum physics will play an increasing role in the exploration of morphic resonance as well, and that we discover DNA-controlled processes are affected by quantum mechanics.

Penrose's book is interesting in that he does not have a bit of "New Age" orientation about him, yet he comes to some very similar conclusions about the operation of Mind that Sheldrake finds with the processes of Life.

I feel the two books should be read in tandem.

There's really not much to say about the content of the book that others haven't covered just as well. It's an extremely interesting, unorthodox, and provocative idea that may hold promise in cracking some tough nuts in developmental biology, and as an evolutionary biologist I respect Sheldrake's work and his willingness to explore non-mainstream concepts. However, he makes it clear, and I want to emphasize, that what he's putting forth here is a hypothesis, NOT a theory in the 'philosophy of science' sense. A hypothesis is a possible explanation for a pattern of natural phenomena; a scientific theory is a hypothesis that's been supported by experimentally-derived evidence. Calling Sheldrake's hypothesis a theory is utterly incorrect. No evidence for a morphic field has ever been found, and their existence is not established. No faith should be put in their existence or in the theory's applicability to real life. Sheldrake's hypothesis is interesting and warrants further exploration, but do not make the mistake of regarding it as equivalent to the established fact of a scientific theory.

I can't say much more about this book than others have. But if you want to get at the nub of things and get past the hype about quantum this and chaos that, this book is for you.

Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance may be the missing piece in the giant puzzle we call developmental biology.

I think there might be some very good ideas buried somewhere in this dense, pompous prose. The book's writing style is very archaic and inaccessible for the average reader ... think academic audience here. The editors didn't do Sheldrake any favors here by letting him run amok with his thesis project. Fine, if I had picked up this book in the University's book store ... but not mainstream Amazon.

Rupert Sheldrake (born 1942) is an English biochemist and plant physiologist who has also written books such as Morphic Resonance: The Nature of Formative Causation, The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature, Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science (2nd Edition with Update on Results), Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised, and co-wrote with Matthew Fox The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet and Natural Grace: Dialogues on creation, darkness, and the soul in spirituality and science.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, "The hypothesis put forward in this book is ... that specific morphogenetic fields are responsible for the characteristic form and organization of systems at all levels of complexity... According to this hypothesis, systems are organized in the way they are because similar systems were organized that way in the past."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Thus a possible vitalist theory of morphogenesis could be summarized as follows: ... the organization of the cells, tissues, and organs, and the co-ordination of the development of the organism as a whole, is determined by entelechy (i.e., "that which realizes or makes actual what is otherwise merely potential"). The latter is inherited non-materially from past members of the same species..." (Pg. 48)
"But then what determines the particular form of the morphogenetic field? One possible answer is that morphogenetic fields are eternal. They are simply given, and are not explicable in terms of anything else... The other possible answer is ... Chemical and biological forms are repeated ... because of a causal influence from previous similar forms." (Pg. 93)
"But according to the hypothesis of formative causation, the form of a system depends on the cumulative morphic influence of previous similar systems. Thus this influence will be stronger on the billionth occasion than on the one thousandth or the tenth." (Pg. 104)
"(A)ccording to the hypothesis of formative causation organisms also inherit the morphogenetic fields of past organisms of the same species. This second type of inheritance takes place by morphic resonance and not through the genes. So heredity includes BOTH genetic inheritance AND morphic resonance from similar past forms." (Pg. 122)
"The hypothesis of formative causation applies to all aspects of human behaviour in which particular patterns of movement are repeated. But it cannot account for the origin of these patterns in the first place. Here, as elsewhere, the problem of creativity lies outside the scope of natural science, and an answer can only be given on metaphysical grounds." (Pg. 196)

First, this is a Book for Scientists {formal or autodidact} and/or Intellectuals!

Again, I don't have to make this review long.
To detail why I Love this Book and/or what its contents reveal, would simply be an attempt
at re-writing the Book. I can't do that better than the Book itself!

Simply and succinctly, 'things' in the Biological realm of Science are NOT what we have
been taught!

This Book will Blow your Mind! It will show you how Scientific-Biological Relationships REALLY
Function, in the Natural World!

If you are interested in Biological Science and/or if the Book's Title and its Front & Back Covers
and its Table of Contents intrigue you--Buy This Book!

You'll have to read it twice {at least}, but the Intellectuals amongst us will not mind--I Guarantee
you!