Basic concepts of systems biology / Andrzej K. Konopka -- Understanding through modeling : a historical perspective and review of biochemical systems theory as a powerful tool for systems biology / Eberhard O. Voit and John H. Schwacke -- Thermostatics : a poster child of systems thinking / Peter Salamon, Anna Salamon, and Andrzej K. Konopka -- Friesian epistemology / Kelley L. Ross -- Reconsidering the notion of the organic / Robert E. Ulanowicz -- The metaphor of "chaos" / Wlodzimierz Klonowksi -- Biological complexity : an engineering perspective / Stephen W. Kercel -- The von Neumann's self-replicator and a critique of its misconceptions / Stephen W. Kercel -- The mathematical structure of thermodynamics / Peter Salamon ... [et al.]