Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

When imprecision is a good thing, or how imprecise concepts facilitate integration in biology

  • Published:
Biology & Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Contrary to the common-sense view and positivist aspirations, scientific concepts are often imprecise. Many of these concepts are ambiguous, vague, or have an under-specified meaning (Gillon 1990). In this paper, I discuss how imprecise concepts promote integration in biology and thus benefit science. Previous discussions of this issue focus on the concepts of molecular gene and evolutionary novelty (Brigandt in Synthese 177:19–40, 2010; Fox Keller in The century of the gene, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2000; Love in Philos Sci 75:874–886, 2008; Waters in Philos Sci 61:163–185, 1994). The concept of molecular gene helps biologists integrate explanatory practices, while the notion of evolutionary novelty helps them integrate research questions into an interdisciplinary problem (Brigandt and Love in J Exp Zool Part B Mol Dev Evol 318:417–427, 2012; Waters, in: Galavotti, Dieks, Gonzalez, Hartmann, Uebel, Weber (eds) New directions in the philosophy of science, Springer, Dordrecht, 2014). In what follows, I compare molecular gene and evolutionary novelty to another imprecise concept, namely biological lineage. This concept promotes two other types of scientific integration: it helps biologists integrate theoretical principles and methodologies into different areas of biology. The concept of biological lineage facilitates these types of integration because it is broad and under-specified in ways that the concepts of molecular gene and evolutionary novelty are not. Hence, I use the concept of biological lineage as a case study to reveal types of integration that have been overlooked by philosophers. This case study also shows that even very imprecise concepts can be beneficial to scientific practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In this paper, I treat concepts (notions) rather than terms as precise or imprecise. This choice might seem odd. Concepts are usually taken to be contents, mental representations or abstract objects, while terms are linguistic items (usually words and expressions) (Margolis and Laurence 2019). I talk about imprecise concepts rather than terms to avoid misleading the reader into thinking that this paper concerns how specific words and their enunciation benefit science. Instead, as I make clear in the following pages, this paper is about how the variation and under-specification of meaning benefits science. When writing on this topic, philosophers of science usually also invoke concepts rather than terms (Ereshefsky 1992; Kitcher 1992; Brigandt 2010). In any case, choice does not matter to my argument. The same argument about meaning can be made irrespective of whether one attributes imprecision to concepts, terms, or to the use of terms. For a similar point, see Brigandt (2010, p. 25).

  2. Ambiguity, vagueness, and sense-generality are distinct types of imprecision. A concept can have one type of imprecision without necessarily having the other types. A concept is ambiguous if it receives multiple meanings. A concept is vague when its meaning or reference admits borderline cases, as when one tries to determine the reference class of “bald.” I define sense-generality in the following paragraphs. For now, it is important to recognize that a concept can have one type of imprecision without having the others. For example, the concept of bald is vague, but it is not ambiguous.

  3. So described, sense-generality contrasts with the other, more common types of imprecision. Sense-generality happens when a concept is associated with a single meaning that is overly general. For instance, users of “evolutionary novelty” imply a single, overarching meaning that does not necessarily admit borderline cases of reference. Hence, this concept is overly general without exhibiting ambiguity or vagueness. One might be tempted to treat sense-generality as something analogous to abstraction and idealization, while considering ambiguity and vagueness more problematic cases of imprecision. One might even be tempted to claim that sense-generality is not imprecision. Regardless of these analogies and terminological issues, it is important to keep sense-generality, ambiguity, and vagueness apart as they raise different challenges to communication and scientific work. In this paper, I focus only on sense-generality. Hence, the examples of imprecise scientific terms in this paper are examples of sense-generality.

  4. Marc Ereshefsky made a similar proposal regarding the concept of species (1992).

  5. While I argue that imprecise concepts help scientists integrate their work, I do not assume that scientists are (or have to be) aware of this role played by concepts. I also do not assume that concepts are very important to the day-to-day practice of scientists. The argument in this paper does not need to rely on these assumptions.

  6. Kenneth C. Waters characterizes the concept of molecular gene as flexible rather than imprecise (Waters 2014). This is just a terminological difference. By adopting this terminology, Waters highlights that the concept of molecular gene can be specified differently to serve different research purposes. The focus of my paper is slightly different. My aim is to explain why this flexibility or imprecision is important.

  7. Brigandt neither uses the term “imprecision” nor “sense generality” to characterize the concept of molecular gene. He also has his own way of characterizing the meaning of concepts. For instance, he might say that, what I call, “the general, under-specified meaning” of a concept is its “epistemic goal,” which is just one of the components that determine the content of a concept. However, the specifics of Brigandt’s terminology and theory of concepts does not influence or contradict my analysis.

  8. Brigandt (2010, 2012) is primarily interested in discussing semantic variation over time rather than the benefits of imprecision to science or scientific integration. For this reason, one must recognize that Brigandt does not offer this characterization of scientific integration himself. Yet, this characterization follows from his analysis of the concept of molecular gene. Hence, one of the minor goals of my paper is to make explicit how Brigandt’s work establishes a relation between that concept and scientific integration.

  9. This ambiguity corresponds to the distinction between paraphyletic and monophyletic groups (Ereshefsky 2001). While the former type of group contains only some descents plus their common ancestor (e.g., the lineage of reptiles), the latter type of group contains all descents and their common ancestor (e.g., the lineage of Amniotes).

  10. However, a change in the concept could be inspired by discoveries of gene transfer among mitochondrial DNA.

  11. This is an oversimplified formulation of the analogous principles for phylogenetics and developmental biology. An adequate formulation of these principles requires us to qualify what counts as the relevant type of similarity for each of them. Still, this qualification does not matter in the context of my discussion since I only aim to show that developmental biology adopts analogous principles and methods coming from phylogenetics.

  12. Imprecise concepts might benefit science in various ways. As one of my reviewers points out, imprecise concepts can engender debates that ultimately lead to clarifying issues and potentially leading to new, refined concepts. The concept of homology might be one example (Ereshefsky 2012; Wagner 2018).

References

  • Baum DA, Smith SD (2013) Tree thinking: an introduction to phylogenetic biology. Roberts, Greenwood Village

    Google Scholar 

  • Boucher Y, Bapteste E (2009) Revisiting the concept of lineage in prokaryotes: a phylogenetic perspective. BioEssays 31:526–536

    Google Scholar 

  • Brigandt I (2010) The epistemic goal of a concept: accounting for the rationality of semantic change and variation. Synthese 177:19–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Brigandt I (2012) The dynamics of scientific concepts: the relevance of epistemic aims and values. In: Feest U, Steinle F (eds) Scientific concepts and investigative practice, vol 3. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp 75–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Brigandt I, Love AC (2012) Conceptualizing evolutionary novelty: moving beyond definitional debates. J Exp Zool Part B Mol Dev Evol 318:417–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnap R (1950) Empiricism, semantics, and ontology. Revue Internationale de Philosophie 4(11):20–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1859) The origin of species. Modern Library, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins R (1976) The selfish gene. Taylor and Francis, Milton Park

    Google Scholar 

  • De Queiroz K (1988) Systematics and the Darwinian revolution. Philos Sci 55:238–259

    Google Scholar 

  • De Queiroz K (1997) The Linnaean hierarchy and the evolutionization of taxonomy, with emphasis on the problem of nomenclature. Aliso: J SystEvol Bot 15:125–144

    Google Scholar 

  • De Queiroz K (1999) The general lineage concept of species and the defining properties of the species category. In: Wilson R (ed) Species new interdisciplinary essays. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 49–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Doolittle WF, Brunet TD (2016) What is the tree of life? PLoS Genet 12:e1005912

    Google Scholar 

  • Dröscher A (2014) Images of cell trees, cell lines, and cell fates: the legacy of Ernst Haeckel and August Weismann in stem cell research. Hist Philos Life Sci 36:157–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Ereshefsky M (1992) Eliminative pluralism. Philos Sci 59:671–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Ereshefsky M (2001) The poverty of the Linnaean hierarchy: a philosophical study of biological taxonomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ereshefsky M (2010) Microbiology and the species problem. Biol Philos 25:553–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Ereshefsky M (2012) Homology thinking. Biol Philos 27:381–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagan M (2013) Philosophy of stem cell biology: knowledge in flesh and blood. Palgrave Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagan MB (2017) Stem cell lineages: between cell and organism. Philos Theory Pract Biol 9(6)

  • Feest U, Steinle F (2012) Scientific concepts and investigative practice, vol 3. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Fogle T (2000) The dissolution of protein coding genes in molecular biology. In: Beurton PJ, Falk R, Rheinberger HJ (eds) The concept of the gene in development and evolution: historical and epistemological perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox Keller E (2000) The century of the gene. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Frumkin D, Wasserstrom A, Kaplan S, Feige U, Shapiro E (2005) Genomic variability within an organism exposes its cell lineage tree. PLoS Comput Biol 1:e50

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillon BS (1990) Ambiguity, generality, and indeterminacy: tests and definitions. Synthese 85(3):391–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey-Smith P (2003) Theory and reality: an introduction to the philosophy of science. Chicago University Press

  • Godfrey-Smith P (2009) Darwinian populations and natural selection. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey-Smith P (2014) Individuality and life-cycle. In: Pradeu T, Guay A (eds) Individuals across the sciences. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Griesemer J (2000) Development, culture, and the units of inheritance. Philos Sci 67:S348–S368

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths GC (1974) On the foundations of biological systematics. Acta Biotheor 23:85–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Haber MH (2012) Multilevel Lineages and Multidimensional Trees: The Levels of Lineage and Phylogeny Reconstruction. Philos Sci 79(5):609–623

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacking I (1983) Representing and intervening: introductory topics in the philosophy of natural science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallgrímsson B, Jamniczky HA, Young NM, Rolian C, Schmidt-Ott URS, Marcucio RS (2012) The generation of variation and the developmental basis for evolutionary novelty. J Exp Zool Part B Mol Dev Evol 318:501–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilario E, Gogarten JP (1993) Horizontal transfer of ATPase genes—the tree of life becomes a net of life. Biosystems 31:111–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull DL (1978) A matter of individuality. Philos Sci 45:335–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull DL (1980) Individuality and selection. Annu Rev EcolSyst 11:311–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull DL (1988) Science as a process: an evolutionary account of the social and conceptual development of science. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitcher P (1992) Gene: current usages. Keywords Evolut Biol 128–131

  • Kuhn TS (1962) The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunin V, Goldovsky L, Darzentas N, Ouzounis CA (2005) The net of life: reconstructing the microbial phylogenetic network. Genome Res 15:954–959

    Google Scholar 

  • Leys SP, Riesgo A (2012) Epithelia, an evolutionary novelty of metazoans. J Exp Zool Part B Mol Dev Evol 318:438–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Love AC (2008) Explaining evolutionary innovations and novelties: criteria of explanatory adequacy and epistemological prerequisites. Philos Sci 75:874–886

    Google Scholar 

  • Margolis E, Laurence S (2019) Concepts. In: Zalta EN (ed) The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2019 Edition)

  • Michod RE, Roze D (1999) Cooperation and conflict in the evolution of individuality. III. Transitions in the unit of fitness. Lectures on mathematics in the life sciences, pp 47–92

  • Mishler BD (2010) Species are not uniquely real biological entities. In: Ayala FJ, Arp R (eds) (2009) Contemporary debates in philosophy of biology. Wiley, New York, pp 110–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler BD, Donoghue MJ (1982) Species concepts: a case for pluralism. Syst Zool 31:491–503

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller GB, Wagner GP (1991) Novelty in evolution: restructuring the concept. Annu Rev EcolSyst 22:229–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Neto C (2019) What is a lineage? Philos Sci 86:1099–1110

    Google Scholar 

  • Nersessian NJ (2010) Creating scientific concepts. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley M (2014) Philosophy of microbiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Quine WV (1951) Main trends in recent philosophy: two dogmas of empiricism. Philos Rev 60:20–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice SH (2012) The place of development in mathematical evolutionary theory. J Exp Zool Part B Mol Dev Evol 318:480–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Salipante SJ, Horwitz MS (2006) Phylogenetic fate mapping. Proc Natl Acad Sci 103:5448–5453

    Google Scholar 

  • Salipante SJ, Horwitz MS (2007) A phylogenetic approach to mapping cell fate. Curr Top Dev Biol 79:157–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Sennet A (2016) Ambiguity. In: Zalta EN (ed) The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition)

  • Sepkoski D, Ruse M (2009) The paleobiological revolution: essays on the growth of modern paleontology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson GG (1951) The species concept. Evolution 5:285–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson GG (1961) Principles of animal taxonomy. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Szathmáry E, Smith JM (1995) The major transitions in evolution. WH Freeman Spektrum, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Templeton AR (1989) The meaning of species and speciation: a genetic perspective. In: Ereshefsky M (ed) The units of evolution: essays on the nature of species. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 159–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Fraassen BC (1980) The scientific image. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu J, Nuno K, Litzenburger UM, Qi Y, Corces MR, Majeti R, Chang HY (2019) Single-cell lineage tracing by endogenous mutations enriched in transposase accessible mitochondrial DNA. eLife 8:e45105

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner GP (2018) Homology, genes, and evolutionary innovation. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasserstrom A, Adar R, Shefer G, Frumkin D, Itzkovitz S, Stern T et al (2008) Reconstruction of cell lineage trees in mice. PLoS ONE 3:e1939

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters CK (2014) Shifting attention from theory to practice in philosophy of biology. In: Galavotti MC, Dieks D, Gonzalez WJ, Hartmann S, Uebel T, Weber M (eds) New directions in the philosophy of science, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 121–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters CK (2019) An epistemology of scientific practice. Philos Sci 86:585–611

    Google Scholar 

  • Weast RC (1971) Handbook of chemistry and physics. Chemical Rubber Co., Cleveland

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler QD, Meier R (eds) (2000) Species concepts and phylogenetic theory: a debate. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley EO (1978) The evolutionary species concept reconsidered. Syst Zool 27:17–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley EO, Lieberman BS (2011) Phylogenetics: theory and practice of phylogenetic systematics. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson M (2017) Physics avoidance: and other essays in conceptual strategy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y (2020) Accurate and efficient cell lineage tree inference from noisy single cell data: the maximum likelihood perfect phylogeny approach. Bioinformatics 36:742–750

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhaxybayeva O, Doolittle WF (2011) Lateral gene transfer. Curr Biol 21(7):R242–R246

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank Marc Ereshefsky, Alan Love, Ingo Brigandt, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on early versions of this paper. I thank the Izaak Waltom Killam Memorial Scholarship for funding this research during my PhD at the University of Calgary.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, 6299 South St, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Celso Neto

Authors
  1. Celso Neto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Celso Neto.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Neto, C. When imprecision is a good thing, or how imprecise concepts facilitate integration in biology. Biol Philos 35, 58 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09774-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09774-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation