In recent decades, advances in molecular genetics and biochemistry have yielded extraordinary results, but they have also highlighted the limitations of a purely reductionist paradigm. Explaining life as the sum of chemical reactions or as the simple execution of a genetic code is no longer sufficient to account for fundamental phenomena: form, the coherence of the organism, self-organization, the capacity for creative adaptation, and, ultimately, biological meaning.
This book proposes a shift in perspective: viewing organisms as stabilized informational structures, supported by fields of coherence that precede and organize their individual material parts. This is not an escape into vagueness or symbolism, but a rigorous attempt to integrate contributions from the physics of complex systems, theoretical biology, neuroscience, and a critical reinterpretation of vitalist traditions in light of contemporary knowledge.
From the crisis of the classical biochemical paradigm to the unsolved problem of form in evolutionary biology, the text shows how life can be understood more effectively if conceived as a phenomenon of non-local coherence, in which the whole is not the result of the parts, but the condition of their possibility. From this perspective, biological fields are not merely evocative metaphors, but conceptual tools for describing how information takes shape, how energy becomes organization, and how the organism maintains its dynamic identity.
This vision also has profound implications for the way we understand health and disease. Health emerges as a state of global coherence, while pathology appears as a fragmentation of the field—a loss of informational harmony even before it is a mechanical failure. At the same time, life is reinterpreted as a diffuse cognitive process: every organism, by the very fact of its existence, perceives, evaluates, and responds to the world.
Field biology opens up a space for responsible reflection, in which science and metaphysics resume their dialogue without becoming conflated. It is an invitation to rethink life not only as a natural phenomenon, but as an event imbued with meaning in the universe, and biological knowledge as a form of understanding that inevitably involves cultural and ethical choices as well.
Bruno Del Medico, born in 1946 in Sabaudia (Italy), spent his professional career working in computer science and software development. He subsequently devoted himself to the study and popularization of the most current scientific theories, such as quantum theory in its metaphysical sense. Bruno Del Medico is currently the author of numerous works published by Edizioni PensareDiverso. Bruno Del Medico’s work stands out from traditional narratives in the field of technical sciences due to his critical, independent, and unconventional approach. Instead of limiting himself to standard interpretations or the general consensus on purely scientific topics, Bruno Del Medico explores alternative perspectives that often go against the grain, challenging commonly accepted assumptions. A distinctive feature of his works is his ability to weave together science, ethics, and philosophy in an open dialogue, which encourages readers to reflect independently and consider the deeper implications of technological and scientific innovations.