Present-day physics is completely governed by a system of differential equations... this entire rich system is now completely contained in a single theorem, the principle of least action.

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

• A new form of physics, a modified physics, must reconcile self and matter, extending current physics while leaving it nearly intact.claim0.792
  The positive program of the chapter: a cosmology that makes sense of architecture and self.
• The principle of least action, though highly general, does not explain why the fifteen properties keep occurring in the world, and multiple competing explanations exist for the same phenomena.claim0.784
  Alexander's critique of least action as an insufficient and non-unique explanation for morphogenesis
• It is always the whole which governs in a living process; even when only latent, the greater whole is the driving force controlling the shaping of parts.claim0.780
  Central principle distinguishing structure-preserving from structure-destroying processes.
• "What I mean is that the wave itself — the system which in present-day science we have considered as a purely mechanical hydrodynamical system of moving water — has some degree of life"quote0.775
  Verbatim quote from Alexander (2002, p.31) showing his expansive concept of life beyond biology.
• "The obvious inability of present-day physics and chemistry to account for such events is no reason at all for doubting that they can be accounted for by those sciences."concept0.772
  Load-bearing epistemological statement; Schrödinger argues that current ignorance does not imply impossibility—motivates search for deeper theory.
• Living matter, while not eluding the 'laws of physics' as established up to date, is likely to involve 'other laws of physics' hitherto unknown.claim0.771
  Schrödinger's famous prediction that new physical principles might emerge from the study of life.
• Every living process is, throughout its length and breadth, congruent with feeling and governed by feeling.claim0.769
  Essential feature of living process, making phenomenological experience the central criterion for evaluation.
• The wave itself — the system which in present-day science we have considered as a purely mechanical hydrodynamical system of moving water — has some degree of life.concept0.767
  Alexander's definition of 'life' in broad sense, exemplifying how non-biological systems possess vitality.