Modularity and Mereology (original) (raw)

In the first section, ‘Morphology and Classification’, I give a brief account of the history of morphology and classification, examining the philosophical and theoretical basis of these disciplines. I criticise Darwin’s contribution, questioning whether the explanations he gives in The Origin of Species are valid. I favour the cladistic theory of classification, which rejects the need for evolutionary assumptions. In ‘Genes and Modules’, I reject neo-Darwinism’s materialistic emphasis on genes. Nucleic acid genes rely on the infrastructure of the cell to carry out their role as replicators. The cell is a modular system of bounded compartments, on which the whole delicate balance of metabolism relies. In ‘Parts and Wholes’, I contrast the mereology of Darwin with that of cladistics: historical groups comprising ancestor and descendants vs. relationships of organisms comprising common characters. These considerations of mereology lead on to a discussion of the appropriate theoretical basis of morphology and classification. In ‘Specifications and Instances’, I suggest such a basis is to be found in category theory.