Abstract
This paper examines - from a realist perspective - the influence of phenomenalism and its offshoot, operationalism, on concept formation in biology, as well as its implications for science education. To this end, the basic tenets of phenomenalism, versus those of realism, are expounded. The influence of phenomenalism and operationalism on current biology is criticized for leading to the confusion of cause with symptom - a mistake known as the operationalist fallacy. This fallacy consists in accepting pseudodefinitions, i.e., the so-called operational definitions such as ‘An acid is a substance that turns litmus paper red’, and pseudoexplanations such as ‘The weather got worse because the barometer reading dropped’. Many instances of this confusion can be found in science. This analysis, however, focuses on biology; it starts with more or less blatant examples, such as behaviorism and the concepts of genotype and homology, turning then to much less obvious examples, such as the definition of selection in terms of differential reproduction, the concept of a species as a reproductive community, the concept of isolating mechanisms, and thus the relational concept of biospecies. While it is maintained that operationalist fallacies are always to be avoided in science, it is discussed whether at least some of them are permissible in science education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Alcock, J.: 1993, Animal Behavior, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland.
Ax, P.: 1987, The Phylogenetic System, Wiley, Chichester.
Ax, P.: 1989, ‘Homologie in der Biologie — ein Relationsbegriff im Vergleich von Arten’, Zoologische Beträge NF 32, 487–496.
Bell, G.: 1997, Selection — The Mechanism of Evolution, Chapman & Hall, New York.
Bock, W.J.: 1974, ‘Philosophical Foundations of Classical Evolutionary Classification’, Systematic Zoology 22, 375–392.
Bradie, M. & Gromko, M.: 1981, ‘The Status of the Principle of Natural Selection’, Nature and System 3, 3–12.
Brady, R.H.: 1979, ‘Natural Selection and the Criteria by which a Theory Is Judged’, Systematic Zoology, 28, 600–621.
Brady, R.H.: 1982, ‘Theoretical Issues and “Pattern Cladistics”’, Systematic Zoology 31, 286–291.
Brandon, R.N.: 1990, Adaptation and Environment, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Bridgman, P.W.: 1927, The Logic of Modern Physics, Macmillan, New York.
Bunge, M.: 1967, Scientific Research (2 vols.), Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Bunge, M.: 1977, The Furniture of the World (Ontology I), D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Boston.
Bunge, M.: 1983a, Exploring the World (Epistemology and Methodology I), D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Boston.
Bunge, M.: 1983b, Understanding the World (Epistemology and Methodology II), D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Boston.
Bunge, M.: 1988, ‘The Ambiralent Legacy of Operationism’, Philosophia naturalis 25, 337–345.
Bunge, M.: 1991–92, ‘A Critical Examination of the New Sociology of Science’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21, 524–560, 22, 46–76.
Byerly, H.C. & Michod, R.E.: 1991, ‘Fitness and Evolutionary Explanation’, Biology and Philosophy 6, 1–22. [Discussion pp. 23–57.]
Churchland, P. & Hooker, C.A. (eds.): 1985, Image of Science, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London.
Coyne, I. A., Orr, H. A. & Futuyma, D.J.: 1988, ‘Do We Need a New Species Concept?’, Systematic Zoology 37, 190–200.
Donoghue, M.J.: 1992, ‘Homology’, in E.F. Keller and E. Lloyd (eds.), Keywords in Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, pp. 170–179.
Duhem, P.: 1908, ΣΩZEIN TA ΦAINOMENA. Essai sur la notion de Théorie physique de Planton à Galilée, A. Hermann et Fils, Paris.
Endler, J.A.: 1986, Natural Selection in the Wild, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Feyerabend, P.K.: 1981, Philosophical Papers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Futuyma, D.J.: 1986, Evolutionary Biology, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland.
Haeckel, E.: 1986, Generelle Morphologie der Organismen, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1988.
Haldane, J.B.S.: 1929, ‘Heredity’, in Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th edn., vol. 11), Encyclopaedia Britannica Company, London, 484–496.
Hills, P.J.: 1982, A Dictionary of Education, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Hooker, C.A.: 1987, ‘Naturalist Realism’, Revue internationale de philosophie 41, 5–28.
Hull, D.L.: 1968, ‘The Operationalist Imperative, Sense and Non-Sense in Operationalism’, Systematic Zoology 17, 432–459.
Hull, D.L.: 1976, ‘Are Species Really Individuals?’, Systematic Zoology 25, 174–191.
Kamitz, R.: 1973, Positivismus. Befreiung vom Dogma, Langen Müller, München, Wien.
Kanitscheider, B.: 1988, ‘Objektivität in den Naturwissenschaften’, in E. Agazzi (ed.), Die Objektivität in den verschiedenen Wissenschaften, Editions Universitaires, Fribourg, 131–152.
Kanitscheider, B.: 1989, ‘Realism From a Biological Point of View’, Dialectica 43, 141–156.
Legendre, R.: 1993, Dictionnaire actuel de l'éducation, Guérin, Montreal, Éditions ESKA, Paris.
Lennox, J.G.: 1992, ‘Philosophy of Biology’, in M.H. Salmon et al., Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 269–309.
Lewontin, R.C.: 1992, ‘Genotype and Phenotype’, in E.F. Keller & E. Lloyd (eds.), Keywords in Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 137–144.
Mahner, M.: 1986, Kreationismus — Inhalt und Struktur antievolutionistischer Argumentation, Pädagogisches Zentrum, Berlin.
Mahner, M.: 1993, ‘What Is a Species? A Contribution to the Never Ending Species Debate in Biology’, Journal for General Philosophy of Science 24, 103–126.
Mahner, M.: 1994, ‘Phänomenalistische Erblast in der Biologie’, Biologisches Zentralblait 113, 435–448.
Mahner, M. & Bunge, M.: 1997, Foundations of Biophilosophy, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Mahner, M. & Kary, M.: 1997, ‘What Exactly Are Genomes, Genotypes and Phenotypes? And What About Phenomes?’ Journal of theoretical Biology 186, 55–63.
Mayr, E.: 1988, Toward a New Philosophy of Biology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Mayr, E. & Ashlock, P.D.: 1991, Principles of Systematic Zoology, McGraw Hill, New York.
Mills, S.K. & Beatty, J.: 1979, ‘The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness’, Philosophy of Science 46, 263–286.
Moss, L.: 1992, ‘A Kernel of Truth? On the Reality of the Genetic Program’, in D. Hull, M. Forbes & K. Okruhlik (eds.), PSA 1992, vol. 1, Philosophy of Science Association, East Lansing, 335–348.
Nelson, G. & Platnick, N.I.: 1981, Systematics and Biogeography. Cladistics and Vicariance, Columbia University Press, New York.
Oyama, S.: 1985, The Ontogeny of Information, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Paterson, H.E.H.: 1985, ‘The Recognition Concept of Species’, in E.S. Vrba (ed.), Species and Speciation, Transvaal Museum Monography 4, Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, 21–29.
Popperk, K.R.: 1962, Conjectures and Refutations, Basic Books, New York.
Popper, K.R.: 1962, Conjectures and Refutations, Basic Books, New York.
Popper, K.R.: 1970, ‘Realism’, in D. Miller (ed.), Popper Selections, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1985, 220–225.
Radnitzky, G.: 1992, ‘Definition’, in H. Seiffert & G. Radnitzky (eds.), Handlexikon zur Wissenschaftstheorie, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München, 27–33.
Riedl, R.: 1984, Die Strategie der Genesis, Piper, München, Zürich.
Rosenberg, A.: 1985, The Structure of Biological Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Salt, G.W.: 1979, ‘A Comment on the Use of the Term Emergent Properties’, American Naturalist 113, 145–148.
Simpson, G.G.: 1961, Principles of Animal Taxonomy, Columbia University Press, New York, London.
Sober, E.: 1984, The Nature of Selection. Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Stadler, L.J.: 1954, ‘The Gene’, Science 120, 811–819.
Stove, D.: 1991, The Plato Cult and Other Philosophical Follies, Blackwell, Oxford.
Suchting, W.A.: 1992, ‘Constructivism Deconstructed’, Science & Education, 1, 223–254.
Templeton, A.R.: 1989, ‘The Meaning of Species and Speciation: A Genetic Perspective’, in D. Otte & J.A. Endler (eds.), Speciation and Its Consequences, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, 3–27.
van der Steen, W.J.: 1994, ‘New Ways to Look at Fitness’, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 16, 479–492.
van Fraassen, B.C.: 1980, The Scientific Image, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Vollmer, G.: 1975, Evolutionäre Erkenntnistheorie, Hirzel, Stuttgart.
von Glasersfeld, E.: 1989, ‘Cognition, Construction of Knowledge, and Teaching’, Synthese 80, 121–140.
Watson, J.B.: 1913, ‘Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It’, Psychological Review 20, 158–177.
Wendel, H.J.: 1992, ‘Radikaler Konstruktivismus und Konstruktionismus. Die Aporien eines falsch verstandenen Naturalismus’, Journal for General Philosophy of Science 23, 323–352.
Woodger, J.H.: 1929, Biological Principles, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, Humanities Press, New York, 1967.
Young, B.: 1993, ‘On the Necessity of an Archetypical Concept in Morphology: With Special Reference to the Concepts of “Structure” and “Homology”’, Biology and Philosophy 8, 225–248.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahner, M. Operationalist Fallacies in Biology. Science & Education 7, 403–421 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008640818123
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008640818123