• home
• about
• new
• essays
• AI
• book

Frank Visser, graduated as a psychologist of culture and religion, founded IntegralWorld in 1997. He worked as production manager for various publishing houses and as service manager for various internet companies and lives in Amsterdam. Books: Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (SUNY, 2003), and The Corona Conspiracy: Combatting Disinformation about the Coronavirus (Kindle, 2020).

The Spectrum of Life

A Taxonomic Ladder for Integral Science

Frank Visser / Grok

The concept of a spectrum of evolutionary biology offers a structured, hierarchical way to understand the science of evolution—one that respects the distinct explanatory domains (or "bands") operating at different scales of life's history. This approach draws an explicit parallel to Ken Wilber's foundational model of the spectrum of consciousness (from his 1977 book The Spectrum of Consciousness), where reality unfolds as a ladder of developmental levels, each transcending and including the previous ones, with unique qualities, mechanisms, and potential pathologies emerging at higher bands.

In evolutionary biology, we can analogously map the major transitions and explanatory frameworks onto a taxonomic/evolutionary ladder—from the deepest origins of life to the emergence of species. This "spectrum" prevents category errors common in philosophical critiques of science (including some integral interpretations), where mechanisms valid at one level are over-applied to another, creating artificial conflicts or gaps that invite premature appeals to metaphysical principles like "Eros" or Spirit.

The Spectrum of Evolutionary Biology: A Taxonomic Ladder

Consider this simplified hierarchy (inspired by Frank Visser's organizing framework in his 2020 essay "Ken Wilber's Problematic Relationship to Science,"[1] with extensions from contemporary evolutionary literature):

Band 1: Origin of Life / Pre-biotic Chemistry

Focus: How non-living chemistry self-organizes into replicating molecular systems and the first cells.

Key thinkers/mechanisms: Stuart Kauffman (autocatalytic sets, self-organization); RNA world hypothesis; metabolic-first or genes-first models.

Here, natural selection operates minimally or not at all; emergence arises from chemical networks and thermodynamic gradients. Invoking "chance alone" is inadequate, but so is assuming a cosmic drive—self-organization is lawful and conditional on energy flows.

Band 2: Prokaryotic Domains / Three-Domain Tree

Focus: Divergence into Bacteria, Archaea, and the precursors to Eukarya.

Key thinker: Carl Woese (rRNA phylogeny establishing the three domains).

Mechanisms emphasize deep phylogenetic splits, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and early metabolic innovations. Darwinian processes exist but are overlaid by massive gene sharing across lineages.

Band 3: Eukaryotic Kingdoms / Major Symbiotic Transitions

Focus: Origin of complex cells (mitochondria, chloroplasts) and the kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi).

Key thinker: Lynn Margulis (endosymbiosis theory).

Mechanisms: Symbiosis and merger create novelty far beyond gradual mutation-selection. This band shows evolution is not always "branching"—mergers and cooperative integrations are foundational.

Band 4: Body Plans / Phyla and Classes (Evo-Devo)

Focus: Origins of animal body plans, organs (eyes, wings, limbs), and developmental modules.

Key thinker: Sean B. Carroll (conserved Hox genes, toolkit genes).

Mechanisms: Gene regulatory networks, deep homology, and developmental plasticity explain macroevolutionary patterns. Gradualism coexists with bursts of innovation tied to regulatory evolution.

Band 5: Species and Macroevolution

Focus: Speciation, adaptive radiations, extinction, and patterns in the fossil record.

Key thinker: Charles Darwin (variation, selection, common descent).

Mechanisms: Population genetics, natural/sexual selection, genetic drift, gene flow. The modern synthesis (and extended versions) excels here, with speciation often via geographic isolation, polyploidy, or ecological divergence.

This ladder is not exhaustive—other bands could include multicellularity, social evolution, cultural coevolution in humans, or even astrobiological possibilities—but it captures the vertical structure of life's history. Each band has its characteristic time scale, units of explanation, and dominant processes. Lower bands provide the preconditions for higher ones (transcend-and-include), yet higher phenomena cannot be fully reduced to lower mechanisms without losing emergent properties.

Why This Spectrum Matters for Integral Perspectives

Wilber's integral theory excels at mapping developmental hierarchies across psychology, spirituality, and culture. Applying a similar lens to biology reveals that evolutionary science already operates with multilevel awareness. Debates about the "incompleteness" of neo-Darwinism often arise from conflating bands:

Kauffman's self-organization critiques apply primarily to Band 1 (molecular origins), not to speciation (Band 5).

Margulis's symbiosis revolutionizes Band 3 (kingdom origins), but does not negate selection-driven adaptation in animals or plants.

Evo-devo insights at Band 4 explain morphological novelty without requiring a guiding "creative advance" beyond known mechanisms.

When these levels are mixed, critics (including some integral voices) claim science "fails" at explaining complexity, opening space for spiritual supplements like Eros-in-the-Kosmos.[2] Yet the spectrum shows science progresses by specializing within bands while integrating across them—no single mechanism explains everything, but no band requires invoking untestable transcendent drives.

This hierarchical view also aligns with Big History and complexity science: complexity emerges locally through energy gradients (e.g., solar input dissipating via life), not against entropy but in accordance with it. The universe is not "winding up" mystically; pockets of order arise where conditions allow, powered by flows from stars to ecosystems.

Toward an Integral Evolutionary Science

An truly integral approach to evolution would:

• Honor the spectrum's distinctions—avoid overgeneralizing from one band to another.

• Integrate findings across bands (e.g., how self-organization at the molecular level enables symbiosis, which enables developmental toolkits, which enable speciation).

• Remain open to where current explanations fall short (e.g., origin of life remains unsolved), without defaulting to metaphysical closure.

• Recognize that "progress" in evolution is local and conditional (better adaptation), not a cosmic inevitability driven by Spirit.

By adopting this "spectrum of evolutionary biology," integral thinkers can engage science more precisely and humbly. It mirrors Wilber's own method—mapping levels to preserve emergence—while grounding claims in empirical domains. The result is not reductionism, but a richer, multidimensional understanding of life's unfolding—one where science and spirituality can dialogue without one colonizing the other.

This framework invites further refinement: perhaps adding bands for cultural/technological evolution or exploring pathologies (e.g., evolutionary dead-ends analogous to developmental fixations). For Integral World readers, it offers a bridge between Wilber's visionary hierarchies and the detailed, level-specific work of evolutionary biologists—fostering genuine integration rather than assertion.

NOTES

[1] Frank Visser, "Ken Wilber's Problematic Relationship to Science", Integral Review, vol. 16, nr. 2, August 2020. Reposted on Integral World August 2020.

[2] See for example: Frank Visser, "The modern theory of evolution is catastrophically incomplete!, Ken Wilber's Emotive Dealings with Evolutionary Theory", September 2019.