Worlds within Worlds: Table 2

TABLE 2

THE PHYSICAL LEVEL OF EXISTENCE


HOLON	EXAMPLES
Cell	bacterium, amoeba, mammalian neuron
Organelle	mitochondrion, nucleus
Macromolecular Structure	ribosome, chromosome, enzyme complex
Tertiary macromolecule	enzyme, DNA
Secondary macromolecule	peptide hormone, RNA
Small Molecule	amino acid, nucleotide
Atom	carbon, hydrogen, oxygen

Fundamental or autonomous holons are in bold, and mark the end of one level of existence and the beginning of the next. Some examples are taken from Stryer (1988). Some assignments are only approximate, because the stages as I define them (see text) do not always correspond to traditional physical, chemical, anatomical or social classifications.