Frick, Ramiro and Bich, Leonardo and Moreno, Alvaro (2019) An organisational approach to biological communication. Acta Biotheoretica. ISSN 0001-5342

Preview

Text Frick Bich & Moreno (2019) An organisational approach to biological communication.pdf Download (387kB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper aims to provide a philosophical and theoretical account of biological communication grounded in the notion of organisation. The organisational approach characterises living systems as organised in such a way that they are capable to self-produce and self-maintain while in constant interaction with the environment. To apply this theoretical framework to the study of biological communication, we focus on a specific approach, based on the notion of influence, according to which communication takes place when a signal emitted by a sender triggers a change in the behaviour of the receiver that is functional for the sender itself. We critically analyse the current formulations of this account, that interpret what is functional for the sender in terms of evolutionary adaptations. Specifically, the adoption of this etiological functional framework may lead to the exclusion of several phenomena usually studied as instances of communication, and possibly even of entire fields of investigation such as synthetic biology. As an alternative, we reframe the influence approach in organisational terms, characterising functions in terms of contributions to the current organisation of a biological system. We develop a theoretical account of biological communication in which communicative functions are distinguished from other types of biological functions described by the organisational account (e.g. metabolic, ecological, etc.). The resulting organisational-influence approach allows to carry out causal analyses of current instances of phenomena of communication, without the need to provide etiological explanations. In such a way it makes it possible to understand in terms of communication those phenomena which realise interactive patterns typical of signalling interactions – and are usually studied as such in scientific practice – despite not being the result of evolutionary adaptations. Moreover, this approach provides operational tools to design and study communicative interactions in experimental fields such as synthetic biology.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Published Article or Volume
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Frick, Ramiro Bich, Leonardo leonardo.bich@ehu.es 0000-0002-2416-112X Moreno, Alvaro
Keywords:	organisation; influence; biological functions; signals; synthetic biology; regulation
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Depositing User:	Dr. Leonardo Bich
Date Deposited:	03 Feb 2019 00:06
Last Modified:	03 Feb 2019 00:06
Item ID:	15701
Journal or Publication Title:	Acta Biotheoretica
Publisher:	Springer
Official URL:	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10441-0...
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.1007/s10441-019-09342-2
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Date:	2 February 2019
ISSN:	0001-5342
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15701

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item