2020
DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00611
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

The Identity of Organisms in Scientific Practice: Integrating Historical and Relational Conceptions

Abstract: We address the identity of biological organisms at play in experimental and modeling practices. We first examine the central tenets of two general conceptions, and we assess their respective strengths and weaknesses. The historical conception, on the one hand, characterizes organisms' identity by looking at their past, and specifically at their genealogical connection with a common ancestor. The relational conception, on the other hand, interprets organisms' identity by referring to a set of distinctive relati… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
2
1
1
1

Citation Types

0
10
0

Year Published

2020
2020
2023
2023

Publication Types

Select...
5
3

Relationship

2
6

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 10 publications
(10 citation statements)
references
References 39 publications
0
10
0
Order By: Relevance
“…On Biological 'Inter-Identity' Therefore, it is quite revealing to conceive the construction of biological identity in the context of that process of interbreeding between the physiological-cellular-metabolic 'token-identity' of individual, cyclic and reproductive organizations, and the evolutionary-population-historical 'type-identity' of collective phylogenies following open-ended (bifurcating and extinguishing) pathways. In that sense, our position is akin to Montévil and Mossio's (2020), who claim (in this same issue) that biological identity is shaped, in scientific practice, at the crossroads between «historical and relational conceptions [of the living]», carrying out a purely epistemological treatment of the problem. In contrast, we delve into the ontological and genealogical reasons behind the phenomenon, from the point of view of its progressive prebiotic emergence, and this allows us to discuss several issues in greater depth, like the importance of the 'interactive' aspects involved -as we do just below, to start concluding our contribution (also summarized schematically in Table 1).…”
Section: Core Discussion: the Construction Of Biological 'Inter-identmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…On Biological 'Inter-Identity' Therefore, it is quite revealing to conceive the construction of biological identity in the context of that process of interbreeding between the physiological-cellular-metabolic 'token-identity' of individual, cyclic and reproductive organizations, and the evolutionary-population-historical 'type-identity' of collective phylogenies following open-ended (bifurcating and extinguishing) pathways. In that sense, our position is akin to Montévil and Mossio's (2020), who claim (in this same issue) that biological identity is shaped, in scientific practice, at the crossroads between «historical and relational conceptions [of the living]», carrying out a purely epistemological treatment of the problem. In contrast, we delve into the ontological and genealogical reasons behind the phenomenon, from the point of view of its progressive prebiotic emergence, and this allows us to discuss several issues in greater depth, like the importance of the 'interactive' aspects involved -as we do just below, to start concluding our contribution (also summarized schematically in Table 1).…”
Section: Core Discussion: the Construction Of Biological 'Inter-identmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…At the same time, this kind of definition does not explicitly provide a control on the organization of objects, that is, the properties relevant for experimental biology and medicine. However, it does give a partial control on these properties, due to the limited pace at which novelties appear and the stabilizing processes mentioned above, that is, natural selection and organization sensu closure of constraints (Montévil and Mossio, 2020). By definition, constraints have more or less intrinsic stability (Montévil and Mossio, 2015), and the stabilizations discussed above are more or less intense, depending on the constraints considered.…”
Section: Theoretical Perspective On Organismsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We also introduced a new symbol, 𝜒, that represents the contextual and historical component of the theoretical and practical definition of organisms, in combination with constraints (Montévil and Mossio, 2020). We contend that this kind of epistemological architecture is required for theoretical accuracy in biology.…”
Section: Theoretical Perspective On Organismsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Specificity stems both from the structure of constraints and their articulation to an organization. As a result, the theoretical definition of organisms integrates relational and historical approaches, which requires a proper theorization (Montévil and Mossio, 2020).…”
Section: Persisting Organizationsmentioning
confidence: 99%