Organism and Character Decomposition

Steps Towards an Integrative Theory of Biology

Bibliographic Data

ID10703201
AuthorsManfred D Laubichler (0000-0001-6152-0251, Princeton University, corresponding author), Günter P Wagner (0000-0002-3097-002X, Yale University)
Year2000
Volume67
IssueS3
PagesS289-S300
Publication date2000-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1086/392826
OpenAlexW2064156373
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited14

In this paper we argue that an operational organism concept can help to overcome the structural deficiency of mathematical models in biology. In our opinion, the structural deficiency of mathematical models lies mainly in our inability to identify functionally relevant biological characters in biological systems, and not so much in a lack of adequate mathematical representations of biological processes. We argue that the problem of character identification in biological systems is linked to the question of a properly formulated organism concept. Lastly, we demonstrate how a decomposition of an organism into independent characters in the context of a specific biological process—such as adaptation by means of natural selection—depends on the dynamical properties and invariance conditions of the equations that describe this process

Adaptation (eye) · Bioinformatics · Biological materials · Biological organism · Biological system · Biology · Character (mathematics) · Cognitive science · Context (archaeology) · Decomposition · Identification (biology) · Mathematical and theoretical biology · Model organism · Organism · Process (computing) · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Ecology · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Gene Regulatory Network Analysis · Genetics · Mathematics · Neuroscience · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology

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