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Overcoming the Limits of Quantification by Visualization

  • Thematic Issue Article: Quality & Quantity
  • Published:
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Abstract

Biological sciences have strived to adopt the conceptual framework of physics and have become increasingly quantitatively oriented, aiming to refute the assertion that biology appears unquantifiable, unpredictable, and messy. But despite all effort, biology is characterized by a paucity of quantitative statements with universal applications. Nonetheless, many biological disciplines—most notably molecular biology—have experienced an ascendancy over the last 50 years. The underlying core concepts and ideas permeate and inform many neighboring disciplines. This surprising success is probably not so much attributable to mathematical and statistical approaches in molecular biology, but rather to the preponderance of qualitative approaches, especially visualization. Visualizations can be afforded by quantitative research, but usually they rely on both, quantitative and qualitative research. I claim the following three features to be responsible for the unceasing zeal for using visualizations: (1) visual representations facilitate reasoning, (2) images can be cognitively processed in a “fast” manner, and (3) abstractions of visual representations prompt conceptual advances. In summary, visualizations have largely contributed to the success of molecular biology by conveying its concepts to other disciplines, and at the same time, eclipsing mere quantitative approaches. However, visualizations also bear the risk of misinterpretation when traversing neighboring disciplines and even more so when pervading nonscientific domains.

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Notes

  1. Gauss cited in Waltershausen [1856]1965.

  2. It is, however, noteworthy that genetics was the first biological discipline that was genuinely mathematized. But today, genetics provides an excellent example of the autonomy of biology with genuine biological concepts (Gayon 2000).

  3. The framework of what such snapshots should comprise can be developed using mechanistic explanations that encompass set-up conditions, termination conditions, and intermediate activities.

  4. The features conveying immediacy of visual representations such as extractability, syntactic salience, and semantic salience have been discussed elsewhere (Kulvicki 2010).

  5. Desnoyers remarks that “[m]ost scientists were scarcely exposed to formal training in the use of visuals and it is our experience that students resort to learning by doing and imitating what they read and see, for better or for worse” (2011).

  6. Before the advent of computers and printers efficient dissemination was hampered by the significant costs involved in the reproduction of visual means.

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Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Werner Callebaut for his intellectual guidance and support. His untimely death left a void at the KLI and in the scientific community at large. In addition, I want to thank the KLI for funding and hosting the 30th Altenberg Workshop on Theoretical Biology “Quality and Quantity” at the KLI Institute in Klosterneuburg/Vienna. In particular, I am very grateful to Eva Lackner who always makes sure that the KLI events are organized in a smooth and professional way. I am also thankful to Gerd Müller who goes to great lengths to ensure that the KLI provides excellent working conditions for intellectual exchange and communication. But above all, I want to thank the participants of the workshop, who invested much time, thought, and effort in contributing to this thematic issue.

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    Isabella Sarto-Jackson

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  1. Isabella Sarto-Jackson
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Correspondence to Isabella Sarto-Jackson.

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Sarto-Jackson, I. Overcoming the Limits of Quantification by Visualization. Biol Theory 10, 253–262 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-015-0224-0

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