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Biological Information as Choice and Construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Arnaud Pocheville
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Abstract

A causal approach to biological information is outlined. There are two aspects to this approach: information as determining a choice between alternative objects and information as determining the construction of a single object. The first aspect has been developed in earlier work to yield a quantitative measure of biological information that can be used to analyze biological networks. This article explores the prospects for a measure based on the second aspect and suggests some applications for such a measure. These two aspects are not suggested to exhaust all the facets of biological information.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 85 , Issue 5 , December 2018 , pp. 1012 - 1025
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Maël Montévil is warmly thanked for insightful discussions and coining the language of the cell. A manuscript in preparation (Pocheville and Montévil 2018) develops the present paper. Two anonymous reviewers and the editor made numerous very helpful suggestions, and the audience at the 2016 PSA meeting provided kind feedback. Paul Griffiths and Karola Stotz mentored the project, and Maureen O’Malley provided kind encouragement. This research was supported by the Judith and David Coffey Life Lab (headed by Jean Yang), Charles Perkins Centre. This publication was made possible through the support of two grants from the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF0063 to Paul Griffiths, TWCF0242 to Arnaud Pocheville). The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

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