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Rolf Sattler

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Rolf SattlerFLSFRSC(born March 8, 1936) is a Canadianplant morphologist,biologist, philosopher, and educator. He is considered one of the most significant contributors to the field of plant morphology[1]and "one of the foremost plant morphologists in the world."[2]His contributions are not only empirical but involved also a revision of the most fundamental concepts, theories, and philosophical assumptions. He published the award-winningOrganogenesis of Flowers(1973) and nearly a hundred scientific papers, mainly on plant morphology. As well he has contributed to many national and international symposia and also organized and chaired symposia at international congresses, edited the proceedings of two of them and published them as books.[3][4]

BesidesBiophilosophy(1986), his philosophical contributions include articles on complementarity (perspectivism),process philosophy,the mandala principle, and the convergence of science and spirituality. Additional publications deal with holisticalternative medicineand healing ways of thinking such asfuzzy logic,Yin-Yang thinking (both/and logic), and Buddhist and Jain logic.

Life[edit]

Sattler was born inGöppingen,Germany. He studied botany, zoology, chemistry, philosophy and pedagogy in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He received his doctorate, with summa cum laude, in systematic botany from theUniversity of Munich.As a postdoctoral fellow, he spent a year withLudwig von Bertalanffy,one of the founders ofgeneral systems theory,at theUniversity of Albertain Canada. Subsequently, he worked for another year withErnest M. GiffordandG. Ledyard Stebbinsat theUniversity of California.For 33 years, he was first assistant, then associate, and finally full professor in the departments of botany and biology ofMcGill Universityin Montreal. He became Emeritus Professor when he retired in 1997. Since retiring he has lived inKingston, Ontario.

At McGill University he taught botany, biology, the history and philosophy of biology, and biology in relation to the human predicament. As a visiting professor at theUniversity of Berlinin Germany he taught plant morphology and the philosophy of biology. AtCornell University,he was a consultant in the Summer Institute on thePhilosophy of Biology.And atNaropa Institutehe taught a summer course on Modern Biology and Zen.

Sattler has lectured at many universities across the globe, includingHarvardand the Universities of California, Paris, Berlin, Bonn, Heidelberg, Zurich, Delhi, Malaya, and Singapore.

As well as his research in plant morphology and the philosophy of biology, he has investigated the relation of science and spirituality. He is keenly interested inholistic alternative medicineand healing thinking. He is also interested in developing a process language in which the verb, not the noun or pronoun, plays the primary role.

In 1995, he gave a talk on science and spirituality in a symposium at the 60th birthday celebrations of theDalai Lama.There he discussed the relation between science and spirituality with special reference to life science.[5]

Plant morphology, science and philosophy[edit]

Sattler's contributions to plant morphology include the empirical, conceptual, theoretical, and philosophical. Together with his coworkers he has contributed a wealth of empirical data on shoot and leaf development[6]and flower development.[7][8]

His empirical findings led him to revision fundamental concepts of comparative morphology. He emphasized that the concepts ofhomologyandhomeosis(replacement) should also include partial homology, partial homeosis, and quantitative homology.[9]These revisions led him to question the theoretical and philosophical foundations of comparative morphology. In contrast to mainstream morphology, which tends to be categorical, he provided evidence for a continuum morphology.[10][11]Together withBernard Jeune,he demonstrated mathematically a continuum of plant forms that spans not only organ categories such asroot,stem,andleaf,but also differenthierarchical levelsoforgan systems,organs,andtissues.[12]RutishauserandIslerregard him as one of the major contemporary proponents of continuum morphology (orFuzzy Arberian Morphology: FAM).[13]

Furthermore, he developed a dynamic morphology or process morphology that supersedes the structure/process dualism inherent in almost all biological research.[14]According to process morphology, structures do not have process(es), theyareprocess(es). He used principal component analysis and the concept of morphological distance to provide a dynamic approach to structure as process,[15]This approach has placed comparative morphology on a more objective plane[16]

The major focus of his philosophical contributions to plant morphology and our understanding of reality has been onprocess philosophy,integral philosophy,holism,contextualism,perspectivism,and complementarity. Besides hierarchy (holarchy), he underlines the importance of complementary perspectives such as holism as undivided wholeness,Yin-Yang,continuum and network views.[17]Besides Aristotelian either/or logic, he emphasizes the importance offuzzy logic.He explores how either/or logic can lead to conflict and even war, whereas fuzzy logic and Yin-Yang thinking can be healing because they connect what either/or logic has torn apart.[18]Finally, he also emphasizes that beyond all perspectives is the unnamable source, emptiness (in the Buddhist sense), mystery, which is of ultimate importance for healing and total Being.[19]

Using a mandala, he presented a synthesis of his scientific, philosophical, and spiritual insights in his open book ‘’Wholeness, Fragmentation, and the Unnamable: Holism, Materialism, and Mysticism – A Mandala’’ (see below in Bibliography). This book also contains two extensive appendices, one on ‘’The Human Condition and its Transcendence’’, and another on ‘’Lessons from the 20th Century for the 21st Century’’.

Awards and honors[edit]

Sattler is a Fellow of theLinnean Society of Londonand aFellow of the Royal Society of Canada.In 1974 he was awarded theLawson Medal(the highest award of the Canadian Botanical Association) for his bookOrganogenesis of Flowers.

In 1995 he received an honorary doctorate (D.Sc.) from theOpen International Universityat Colombo, Sri Lanka for his contributions to complementary alternative medicine.

A symposium was dedicated to him on the occasion of his retirement.[20]

Bibliography (selected publications)[edit]

  • Sattler, R.Wholeness, Fragmentation, and the Unnamable: Holism, Materialism, and Mysticism - A Mandala
  • ---- 2021.Science and Beyond: Toward Greater Sanity through Science, Philosophy, Art, and Spirituality.FriesenPress.
  • ---- 2019. Structural and dynamic approaches to the development and evolution of plant form. In: Fusco, G. (ed)Perspectives on Evolutionary and Developmental Biology. Essays for Alessandro Minelli.Chapter 6, pp. 57-70ISBN9788869381409
  • ---- 2018. Philosophy of plant morphology.Elemente der Naturwissenschaft108: 55-79 (for an expanded version of this article see[1]).
  • ---- 2016. Science and mystery.Holistic Science Journal3(1): 49-53.
  • ---- 2012. Outgrowing Aristotle: How to move beyond the logic of either/or.Green Spirit14(2): 18-20 (also available as Healing Thinking through both/and logic, Buddhist and Jain logic[2]).
  • ---- 2008.Wilber’s AQAL Map and Beyond
  • ---- 2001. Some comments on the morphological, scientific, philosophical and spiritual significance ofAgnes Arber's life and work.Annals of Botany88: 1215-1217[3][dead link]
  • ---- 2001. Non-conventional medicines and holism.Holistic Science and Human Values5: 1–15.
  • ---- 1999. Divergence and convergence of sciences and spirituality: life science and spirituality.Holistic Science and Human Values4: 41-48
  • ---- 1998. On the origin of symmetry, branching and phyllotaxis in land plants. In: R.V. Jean and D. Barabé (eds) Symmetry in Plants. World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 775–793.
  • Sattler, R. and Rutishauser, R. 1997. The fundamental relevance of plant morphology and morphogenesis to plant research.Annals of Botany80: 571-582[4][dead link]
  • Sattler, R. 1996. Classical morphology and continuum morphology: opposition and continuum.Annals of Botany78: 577-581[5][dead link]
  • ---- 1994. Homology, homeosis and process morphology in plants. In: B.K. Hall (ed).Homology: The hierarchical basis of comparative biology.Academic Press, pp. 423–475.
  • ---- 1992. Process morphology: structural dynamics in development and evolution.Canadian Journal of Botany70: 708-714[6]
  • Sattler, R. and Jeune, B. 1992. Multivariate analysis confirms the continuum view of plant form.Annals of Botany69: 249–262.
  • Jeune, B. and Sattler, R. 1992. Multivariate analysis in process morphology.Journal of Theoretical Biology156: 147–167.
  • Sattler, R. 1988. Homeosis in plants (Special Paper).American Journal of Botany75: 1606–1617.
  • ---- 1986.Biophilosophy. Analytic and Holistic Perspectives.Heidelberg, New York: Springer.
  • ---- (ed). 1982.Axioms and Principles of Plant Construction.The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff/Junk (Also published as Vol. 31a of Acta Biotheoretica).
  • ---- (ed). 1978.Theoretical Plant Morphology.The Hague: Leiden University Press.
  • ---- 1974. A new approach to gynoecial morphology.Phytomorphology24: 22–34.
  • ---- 1973.Organogenesis of Flowers. A Photographic Text-Atlas.Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press.

References[edit]

  1. ^Vergara-Silva, F. 2003. Plants and the conceptual articulation of evolutionary developmental biology.Biology and Philosophy18: 262-263
  2. ^Cavers, P. 1974. Rolf Sattler.The Canadian Botanical Association Bulletin7(3): 5.
  3. ^Sattler, R. (ed.). 1978.Theoretical Plant Morphology.The Hague: Leiden University Press.
  4. ^Sattler, R. (ed.). 1982.Axioms and Principles of Plant Constructions.The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff/Junk Publishers.
  5. ^Sattler, R. 1999. Divergence and convergence of sciences and spirituality: life science and spirituality.Holistic Science and Human Values,Transactions 4: 41-48.
  6. ^Lacroix, C.; Jeune, B.; Purcell-Macdonald, S. 2003. Shoot and compound leaf comparisons in eudicots: dynamic morphology as an alternative approach.Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society143: 219-230.
  7. ^Greyson, R. I. 1994.Th Development of Flowers.New York/ Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  8. ^Leins, P.; Erbar, C. 2010.Flower and Fruit.Stuttgart: Schweizerbart.
  9. ^Hall, B. K. (ed.) 1994.Homology: The hierarchical basis of comparative morphology.New York: Academic Press, pp. 15-16
  10. ^Cusset, G. 1982. The conceptual bases of plant morphology.Acta Biotheoretica31A, p. 45.
  11. ^Rutishauser, R.; Moline, P. 2005. Evo-devo and the search for homology ( "sameness" ) in biological systems.Theory in Biosciences124: 213-241.
  12. ^Sattler, R. and B. Jeune. 1992. Multivariate analysis confirms the continuum view of plant form.Annals of Botany69: 249-262
  13. ^Rutishauser, R. and Isler, B. 2001.Developmental genetics and morphological evolution of flowering plants, especially bladderworts (Utricularia):Fuzzy Arberian Morphology complements Classical Morphology.Annals of BotanyVol. 88, p. 1184)
  14. ^Kirchoff, B.K.; Pfeifer, E.; Rutishauser, R. 2008. Plant structure ontology: How should we label plant structures with doubtful or mixed identities?Zootaxa1950: 103-122.
  15. ^Hall, B.K.(ed). 1994.Homology: The hierarchical basis of comparative biology.New York: Academic Press, pp. 15-16
  16. ^Greyson, R. I. 1994.The Development of Flowers.New York: Oxford University Press, p. 11
  17. ^Cuerrier, A. 1997. Rolf Sattler. Le novel esprit scientifique.Interface18(6):16-21
  18. ^Rolf Sattler,Healing Thinking and Being
  19. ^Cusset, G. 1994. Le statut de la morphologie végétale.Canadian Journal of Botany72: 605–616.
  20. ^Plant Morphology – Theory and Practice. A Tribute to Rolf Sattler and his Work,Symposium of the Botanical Society of America, 1997

External links[edit]

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