Claude Bernard

Claude Bernard was a 19th-century French physiologist known for his contributions to the scientific method and the study of biology. He emphasized the importance of experimental observation and believed that understanding complex systems, like the human body, required breaking them down into simpler parts—a viewpoint aligned with reductionism. However, his work also acknowledged that living organisms exhibit emergent properties, meaning that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This dual perspective highlights the interplay between reductionism and emergentism in understanding biological systems and their functions.