ABSTRACT
The orthogenetic principle describes the development of a structure as resulting from the joint effects of the increasing differentiation of its constituents from each other, and the increasing integration of those constituents with each other. However, both of these processes are themselves macroscopic outcomes of changes that take place at a still more microscopic level of analysis. In this chapter and the three that follow, we consider these microscopic processes in greater detail. These considerations will, in turn, provide the basis for a deeper understanding of the dialectical relationships between differentiation and hierarchic integration in a developing structure.
