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Multilevel Causation and the Extended Synthesis

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Abstract

In this article we argue that the classical—linear and bottom-up directed—models of causation in biology, and the “proximate/ultimate” dichotomy, are inappropriate to capture the complexity inherent to biological processes. We introduce a new notion of “multilevel causation” where old dichotomies such as proximate/ultimate and bottom-up/top-down are reinterpreted within a multilevel, web-like, approach. In briefly reviewing some recent work on complexity, EvoDevo, carcinogenesis, autocatalysis, comparative genomics, animal regeneration, phenotypic plasticity, and niche construction, we will argue that such reinterpretation is a necessary step for the advancement of the “Extended Synthesis.”

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Notes

  1. On the organism conceived as a processual entity see Woodger (1929) and Dupré (2012).

  2. Multilevel causation is fundamental in organization processes of biological complexity: in areas of study such as complexity theory (Kauffman 1993; Emmeche et al. 2000; Hooker 2011), niche construction theory (Gilbert and Sarkar 2000; Laland et al. 2008), epigenesis (Newman 2003b), paleontology (Vrba and Eldredge 1984; Sepkoski 2008), systems biology (Palsson 2006; Trewavas 2006), cellular autocatalysis (Moreno and Umerez 2000), neurobiology (Ellis 2009), and evolutionary theory (Campbell 1974; Mitchell 2009; Martínez and Moya 2011), there are many advanced works about the importance of the co-determination of bottom-up and top-down causes. This co-determination is seen as a universal pattern of organization (El-Hani and Queiroz 2005).

  3. It is worth mentioning that several philosophers (e.g., Kim 1998; Craver and Bechtel 2007) call into question the notion of top-down or downward causation, arguing that it presents important difficulties in its conceptualization. But see Andersen et al. (2000) and Klister (2010) for a defense of downward causation’s concept.

  4. Such is the case of the female goldenrod gallfly. The proteins contained in the saliva of the gallfly larva induce a cellular proliferation on the goldenrod. A gall is formed and the larva enters in it and continues to be protected as it feeds.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all the members of PhiBio, Seminario de Filosofía de la Biología UAM-C, for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Mexico City, Mexico

    Maximiliano Martínez

  2. Departamento de Filosofía, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Maurizio Esposito

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  1. Maximiliano Martínez
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  2. Maurizio Esposito
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Correspondence to Maximiliano Martínez.

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Martínez, M., Esposito, M. Multilevel Causation and the Extended Synthesis. Biol Theory 9, 209–220 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-014-0161-3

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