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Yet considerable uncertainty remains (and, in some quarters, outright skepticism) about how \u2018systems thinking\u2019 can actually deepen our understanding of organisms\u2014beyond simply reminding us of such familiar maxims as \u2018the whole is more than the sum of its parts\u2019. In this paper, I draw on the largely forgotten organicist ideas of the experimental and theoretical biologist Paul Weiss (1898\u20131989) to outline a workable, intuitive, and non-formal systems-oriented conception of the organism, and proceed to illustrate its value and effectiveness across a range of explanatory contexts. Specifically, I argue that a proper understanding of the organism as a system\u2014lucidly anticipated by Weiss more than half a century ago\u2014provides the necessary conceptual resources to diagnose and overcome the problems with four prominent doctrines that remain deeply entrenched in contemporary biology: reductionism, genocentrism, determinism, and mechanicism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10441-026-09539-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T13:56:14Z","timestamp":1792677374000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Organism as a System: Insights from Paul Weiss"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"74","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3413-1231","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel J.","family":"Nicholson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"9539_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2005.04.020","volume":"121","author":"A Aderem","year":"2005","unstructured":"Aderem A (2005) Systems biology: its practice and challenges. 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