Material Causality, Growth, Organism

Contributing to the general neglect of Material Causality is the pervasive subscription to the thesis that the fundamental principle of organic life is Self-Preservation. For, on the basis of that principle, variation is either extrinsic or even inimical to an organism, and self-variation is impossible. So, that tradition precludes the possibility that Material Causality, i. e. a process of Diversification, is a principle of Organism. But, Growth is inconceivable without Diversification. Hence, the tradition finds it difficult to explain organic growth. For example, as has been previously discussed, Spinoza, Kant, and Whitehead each flirts with recognizing growth as a cardinal characteristic of any natural entity, without fully committing to the implications of that recognition, perhaps because accommodation of Material Causality would significantly disrupt his system.