Formal Biology and Compositional Biology as Two Kinds of Biological Theorizing

Dissertation, Indiana University, Hps (2003)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

There are two fundamentally distinct kinds of biological theorizing. "Formal biology" focuses on the relations, captured in formal laws, among mathematically abstracted properties of abstract objects. Population genetics and theoretical mathematical ecology, which are cases of formal biology, thus share methods and goals with theoretical physics. "Compositional biology," on the other hand, is concerned with articulating the concrete structure, mechanisms, and function, through developmental and evolutionary time, of material parts and wholes. Molecular genetics, biochemistry, developmental biology, and physiology, which are examples of compositional biology, are in serious need of philosophical attention. For example, the very concept of a "part" is understudied in both philosophy of biology and philosophy of science. ;My dissertation is an attempt to clarify the distinction between formal biology and compositional biology and, in so doing, provide a clear philosophical analysis, with case studies, of compositional biology. Given the social, economic, and medical importance of compositional biology, understanding it is urgent. For my investigation, I draw on the philosophical fields of metaphysics and epistemology, as well as philosophy of biology and philosophy of science. I suggest new ways of thinking about some classic philosophy of science issues, such as modeling, laws of nature, abstraction, explanation, and confirmation. I hint at the relevance of my study of two kinds of biological theorizing to debates concerning the disunity of science

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Parts and theories in compositional biology.Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther - 2006 - Biology and Philosophy 21 (4):471-499.
Natural Kinds and Biological Realisms.Michael Devitt - 2011 - In Michael O'Rourke, Joseph Keim Campbell & Matthew H. Slater (eds.), Carving Nature at its Joints: Natural Kinds in Metaphysics and Science. MIT Press.
Gould on laws in biological science.Lee Mcintyre - 1997 - Biology and Philosophy 12 (3):357-367.
There may be strict empirical laws in biology, after all.Mehmet Elgin - 2006 - Biology and Philosophy 21 (1):119-134.
Essays in Philosophical Biology.William Morton Wheeler - 1939 - New York: Russell & Russell. Edited by George Howard Parker.
What 'biological racial realism' should mean.Quayshawn Spencer - 2012 - Philosophical Studies 159 (2):181-204.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-04-18

Downloads
1,179 (#9,503)

6 months
85 (#44,009)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
University of California, Santa Cruz

Citations of this work

Parts and theories in compositional biology.Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther - 2006 - Biology and Philosophy 21 (4):471-499.
Rational Disagreements in Phylogenetics.Fabrizzio Guerrero Mc Manus - 2009 - Acta Biotheoretica 57 (1-2):99-127.
Grounding the big picture.Patrick Forber - 2005 - Biology and Philosophy 20 (4):913-923.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references