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super-organic

  • 1) That is above or goes beyond the laws of nature or the capacities of living organisms; supernatural. (OED 2012)
    organism
    1818

    If miraculous means super-organic, & not mechanical, I believe in Miracl[es].

    Coleridge, S.T. (1818). [Letter]. In: Collected Letters, vol. IV (Oxford 1959): 799.

  • 2) Designating or characteristic of the social and cultural aspects of life which evolve from and transcend individuals in society.
    organism superorganism
    1867

    Under the head of organic integrations, there remain to be noted some which do not occur within the limits of one organism, and which only in an indirect way involve concentration of matter and dissipation of motion. These are the integrations by which organisms are made dependent on one another. We may set down two kinds of them—those which occur within the same species, and those which occur among different species. […] phenomena which, for want of a better word, we may term super-organic. […] The phenomena set down in the foregoing paragraph are introductory to others of a higher order, with which they ought, perhaps, in strictness, to be grouped—phenomena which, for want of a better word, we may term super-organic.

    Spencer, H. (1867). First Principles, 2nd ed.: 315; 316.

    1876

    The four Volumes, that have followed First Principles, have dealt with Organic Evolution […]. We have now to enter upon the remaining division—Super-organic Evolution. […] The evolution we see in them [scil. social insects] is […] intermediate between the organic and the super-organic.

    Spencer, H. (1876). Principles of Sociology, vol. 1: 3; 6.