A recent debate has touched upon the
question of whether diseases can be understood as dysfunctional
mechanisms or whether there are "pathological" mechanisms that deserve
to be investigated and explained independently (Nervi 2010;
Moghaddam-Taaheri 2011). Here I suggest that both views tell us
something important about disease but that in many instances only a
systemic view can shed light on the relationship between physiology and
pathology. I provide examples from the literature in systems biology in
support of my position. As a result of my analysis, I conclude that a
perspective narrowly focusing on mechanisms is insufficient if the goal
is to get a comprehensive picture of disease.