Theoretical principles for biology: Organization

In the search of a theory of biological organisms, we propose to adopt organization as a theoretical principle. Organization constitutes an overarching hypothesis that frames the intelligibility of biological objects, by characterizing their relevant aspects. After a succinct historical survey on th...

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Published inProgress in biophysics and molecular biology Vol. 122; no. 1; pp. 24 - 35
Main Authors Mossio, Matteo, Montévil, Maël, Longo, Giuseppe
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2016
Subjects
Animals
Biology - methods
Closure
Constraints
Humans
Models, Biological
Organicism
Organization
Stability
Theoretical principle
Organization
Constraints
Stability
Closure
Organicism
Theoretical principle
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Summary:In the search of a theory of biological organisms, we propose to adopt organization as a theoretical principle. Organization constitutes an overarching hypothesis that frames the intelligibility of biological objects, by characterizing their relevant aspects. After a succinct historical survey on the understanding of organization in the organicist tradition, we offer a specific characterization in terms of closure of constraints. We then discuss some implications of the adoption of organization as a principle and, in particular, we focus on how it fosters an original approach to biological stability, as well as and its interplay with variation.
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ISSN:0079-6107
1873-1732
1873-1732
DOI:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2016.07.005