Theoretical principles for biology: Variation

Maël Montévil (1, 2) , Matteo Mossio (2) , Arnaud Pocheville (3) , Giuseppe Longo (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

1 MSC - Matière et Systèmes Complexes
2 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques
3 The University of Sydney
4 La République des savoirs : Lettres, Sciences, Philosophie
5 Centre Cavaillès
6 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
7 ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris
8 Tufts University School of Medicine [Boston]

Darwin introduced the concept that random variation generates new living forms. In this paper, we elaborate on Darwin's notion of random variation to propose that biological variation should be given the status of a fundamental theoretical principle in biology. We state that biological objects such as organisms are specific objects. Specific objects are special in that they are qualitatively di↵erent from each other. They can undergo unpredictable qualitative changes, some of which are not defined before they happen. We express the principle of variation in terms of symmetry changes, where symmetries underlie the theoretical determination of the object. We contrast the biological situation with the physical situation, where objects are generic (that is, di↵erent objects can be assumed to be identical) and evolve in well-defined state spaces. We derive several implications of the principle of variation, in particular, biological objects show randomness, historicity and contextuality. We elaborate on the articulation between this principle and the two other principles proposed in this special issue: the principle of default state and the principle of organization.

Mots clés: Theory of organisms; Organization; Biological randomness; Genericity; Variability; Historicity; Theoritical biology

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Bio-Informatique, Biologie Systémique [q-bio.QM]; Biophysique; Biologie moléculaire; Biologie structurale [q-bio.BM]; Evolution [q-bio.PE]; Cancer; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Maël Montévil, Matteo Mossio, Arnaud Pocheville, Giuseppe Longo. Theoretical principles for biology: Variation. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2016, "From the century of the genome to the century of the organism: New theoretical approaches", a Special issue, 122 (1), pp.36-50. ⟨10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2016.08.005⟩. ⟨hal-01379202v2⟩