Genocentrism versus developmental systems theory. Two competing ways of understanding information in modern biology

Authors

  • Radosław Siedliński

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15633/ss.2485

Keywords:

genocentrism, Developmental Systems Theory, biological information, bioinformation, John Maynard Smith, Susan Oyama

Abstract

There are (at least) two opposing concepts of biological information, or bioinformation,
discussed in the modern philosophy of biology: genocentric (genebased)
and holistic. As a main proponent of the former I consider British evolutionist
John Maynard Smith and his teleosemantic theory of bioinformation.
The latter was proposed by American philosopher Susan Oyama in the form of
so-called Developmental Systems Theory (DST).
In Maynard Smith proposal bioinformation is strictly gene-based and any
non-genetic element of a living organism cannot be considered as a vehicle of
informational content. Such information is transmitted from parents to offspring
inside the germ cells and every time serves as a blueprint for building
the whole organisms. DST claims the opposite: bioinformation cannot be
reduced to genetic elements only and is scattered throughout the whole living
system. What is more, biological information is not simply transmitted
between generations but every time rebuilt from available developmental resources:
bioinformation has not only it is phylogeny, but it is ontogeny as well.
The aim of this paper is twofold. First: to present the foundations of both aforementioned
theories to the reader and second: to discuss the different objections
raised against them.

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2018-07-31

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