Two ontogenetic challenges to trait individuation.

Trait individuation is an epistemically indispensable and heuristically fruitful practice in biological science. However, important ontological issues transcend an epistemology-only reading of what trait individuation entails (e.g., adaptation and homology), prompting scholars to advance models and...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 205; no. 6; pp. 1 - 28
Autor principal: Fábregas-Tejeda, Alejandro
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Jun2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Two ontogenetic challenges to trait individuation.
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        au: Fábregas-Tejeda, Alejandro
        affil: https://ror.org/05f950310 Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierplein 2 - box 3200, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
      su:
        Cognitive psychology
        Life sciences
        Individuation (Psychology)
        Natural selection
        Units of time
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        subj:
          Cognitive psychology
          Life sciences
          Individuation (Psychology)
          Natural selection
          Units of time
      keyword:
        Characters
        Evo-Devo
        Functionalism
        Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology
        Structuralism
        Traits
      ab: Trait individuation is an epistemically indispensable and heuristically fruitful practice in biological science. However, important ontological issues transcend an epistemology-only reading of what trait individuation entails (e.g., adaptation and homology), prompting scholars to advance models and frameworks to grapple with this problem. Here, I articulate two challenges that arise when advancing theories and frameworks to tackle trait individuation: the synchronicity and the diachronicity challenges. The synchronicity challenge involves specifying the traits an organism has at a given moment in ontogeny, whereas the diachronicity challenge involves understanding the causal processes that drive trait individuation in development and tracing these units across time. To delve deeper, I introduce extant functionalist and structuralist perspectives on trait individuation and evaluate how they address both challenges. Overcoming these challenges is necessary for such accounts to fulfill their theoretical promise of individuating the traits that organisms have in an ontologically sound way.
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    language: English
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