If I understand your definition of analogy, the comparisons made between
organisms and societies ARE analogical, not merely metaphorical. The
"formal system" in this case is the theory of metasystems (which is
formally still poorly developed, but exists on a more abstract level than
any natural system). It is decoded into two different types of natural
systems, multicellular organisms on the one hand, society on the other.
Even if we forget about the shared formal system, there are *two way*
mappings, from organism to society and back. Until now the discussion has
been focusing on the direction: properties of organisms -> properties of
societies. Yet, we should not forget that many people have tried to analyse
organisms by using concepts describing societies. For example, Minsky's
"Society of mind" uses society as a metaphor for the brain, many people
have applied the market metaphor to biological systems such as the immune
system, and the unbiquitous concept of "hierarchy" which is applied to
organisms and all kinds of complex systems is originally derived from
social hierarchies.
________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Francis Heylighen, Systems Researcher fheyligh@vnet3.vub.ac.be
PESP, Free University of Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32-2-6292525; Fax +32-2-6292489; http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html