The organism and its double: An approach to the individual

The individual is certainly the most complex entity that we know until now. Current research converges on a triad-like understanding of the biological individual as an interface of a mechanism and an ecosystem. The present article wants to propose a more generic concept of individual by integrating the functional role of its qualitative characteristics. Modules-problems ensuing from this generic model will serve as a matrix in the elaboration of a future integral biomathics, while category theory will be its syntactic base. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.