Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-nptnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-27T23:07:15.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sameness in Biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Grant Ramsey  and
Anne Siebels Peterson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Homology is a biological sameness relation that is purported to hold in the face of changes in form, composition, and function. In spite of the centrality and importance of homology, there is no consensus on how we should understand this concept. The two leading views of homology, the genealogical and developmental accounts, have significant shortcomings. We propose a new account, the hierarchical-dependency account of homology, which avoids these shortcomings. Furthermore, our account provides for continuity between special, general, and serial homology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 79 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 255 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

We thank Marc Ereshefsky, Russell Powell, Phil Sloan, Gunter Wagner, two anonymous reviewers, and the editor of this journal for their helpful comments on this article. Some of the ideas for this article were presented at the 2011 meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology. We thank the audience members for their thoughtful suggestions.

References

Abouheif, Ehab. 1997. “Developmental Genetics and Homology: A Hierarchical Approach.” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12 (10): 405–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brigandt, Ingo. 2002. “Homology and the Origin of Correspondence.” Biology and Philosophy 17 (3): 389–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C. 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. London: Murray.Google Scholar
De Pinna, Mario G. G. 1991. “Concepts and Tests of Homology in the Cladistic Paradigm.” Cladistics 7 (4): 367–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ereshefsky, M. 2009. “Homology: Integrating Phylogeny and Development.” Biological Theory 4 (3): 225–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghiselin, Michael T. 2005. “Homology as a Relation of Correspondence between Parts of Individuals.” Theory in Biosciences 124 (2): 91–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, Paul E. 2007. “The Phenomena of Homology.” Biology and Philosophy 22 (5): 643–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Brian K. 2003. “Descent with Modification: The Unity Underlying Homology and Homoplasy as Seen through an Analysis of Development and Evolution.” Biological Reviews 78 (3): 409–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laubichler, Manfred D. 2000. “Homology in Development and the Development of the Homology Concept.” American Zoologist 40 (5): 777–88.Google Scholar
Lauder, George V. 1994. “Homology, Form, and Function.” In Homology:The Hierarchical Basis of Comparative Biology, ed. Hall, B. K. and Cannatella, D., 151–196. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Nielsen, C., and Martinez, P. 2003. “Patterns of Gene Expression: Homology or Homocracy?” Development Genes and Evolution 213 (3): 149–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, R. 1843. Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals: Delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, in 1843. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1848. On the Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton. London: van Voorst.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, C. 1982. “Morphological Characters and Homology.” In Problems of Phylogenetic Reconstruction, ed. Joysey, K. A. and Friday, A. E., 21–74. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Quiring, R., Walldorf, U., Kloter, U., and Gehring, W. J. 1994. “Homology of the Eyeless Gene of Drosophila to the Small Eye Gene in Mice and Aniridia in Humans.” Science 265 (5173): 785–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenberg, Alex, and Neander, Karen. 2009. “Are Homologies (Selected Effect or Causal Role) Function Free?” Philosophy of Science 76 (3): 307–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shubin, Neil, Tabin, Cliff, and Carroll, Sean. 1997. “Fossils, Genes and the Evolution of Animal Limbs.” Nature 388 (6643): 639–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sloan, P. R. 2003. “Whewell's Philosophy of Discovery and the Archetype of the Vertebrate Skeleton: The Role of German Philosophy of Science in Richard Owen's Biology.” Annals of Science 60 (1): 39–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Valen, L. M. 1982. “Homology and Causes.” Journal of Morphology 173 (3): 305–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagner, G. P. 1989. “The Biological Homology Concept.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 20 (1): 51–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, G. P. 2007. “The Developmental Genetics of Homology.” Nature Reviews Genetics 8 (6): 473–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wake, David B. 1994. “Comparative Terminology.” Science 265 (5169): 268–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed