On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology

Contrasting definitions of organs based either on function or on strictly morphological criteria are the legacy of a tradition starting with Aristotle. This floating characterization of organs in terms of both form and function extends also to organ systems. The first section of this review outlines...

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Autor principal:	Alessandro Minelli
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	organ body part organ system Dohrn Owen hermaphroditism Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/45629a089bd84402adba3a0d98547e1a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:45629a089bd84402adba3a0d98547e1a2021-12-03T07:19:04ZOn the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology2296-701X10.3389/fevo.2021.745564https://doaj.org/article/45629a089bd84402adba3a0d98547e1a2021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.745564/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2296-701XContrasting definitions of organs based either on function or on strictly morphological criteria are the legacy of a tradition starting with Aristotle. This floating characterization of organs in terms of both form and function extends also to organ systems. The first section of this review outlines the notions of organ and body part as defined, explicitly or implicitly, in representative works of nineteenth century’s comparative morphology. The lack of a clear distinction between the two notions led to problems in Owen’s approach to the comparative method (definition of homolog vs. nature of the vertebrate archetype) and to a paradoxical formulation, by Anton Dohrn, of the principle of functional change. Starting from the second half of the twentieth century, with the extensive use of morphological data in phylogenetic analyses, both terms – organ and body part – have been often set aside, to leave room for a comparison between variously characterized attributes (character states) of the taxa to be compared. Throughout the last two centuries, there have been also efforts to characterize organs or body parts in terms of the underlying developmental dynamics, both in the context of classical descriptive embryology and according to models suggested by developmental genetics. Functionally defined organ are occasionally co-extensive with morphologically defined body parts, nevertheless a clear distinction between the former and the latter is a necessary prerequisite to a study of their evolution: this issue is discussed here on the example of the evolution of hermaphroditism and gonad structure and function.Alessandro MinelliFrontiers Media S.A.articleorganbody partorgan systemDohrnOwenhermaphroditismEvolutionQH359-425EcologyQH540-549.5ENFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	organ body part organ system Dohrn Owen hermaphroditism Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	organ body part organ system Dohrn Owen hermaphroditism Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 Alessandro Minelli On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
description	Contrasting definitions of organs based either on function or on strictly morphological criteria are the legacy of a tradition starting with Aristotle. This floating characterization of organs in terms of both form and function extends also to organ systems. The first section of this review outlines the notions of organ and body part as defined, explicitly or implicitly, in representative works of nineteenth century’s comparative morphology. The lack of a clear distinction between the two notions led to problems in Owen’s approach to the comparative method (definition of homolog vs. nature of the vertebrate archetype) and to a paradoxical formulation, by Anton Dohrn, of the principle of functional change. Starting from the second half of the twentieth century, with the extensive use of morphological data in phylogenetic analyses, both terms – organ and body part – have been often set aside, to leave room for a comparison between variously characterized attributes (character states) of the taxa to be compared. Throughout the last two centuries, there have been also efforts to characterize organs or body parts in terms of the underlying developmental dynamics, both in the context of classical descriptive embryology and according to models suggested by developmental genetics. Functionally defined organ are occasionally co-extensive with morphologically defined body parts, nevertheless a clear distinction between the former and the latter is a necessary prerequisite to a study of their evolution: this issue is discussed here on the example of the evolution of hermaphroditism and gonad structure and function.
format	article
author	Alessandro Minelli
author_facet	Alessandro Minelli
author_sort	Alessandro Minelli
title	On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
title_short	On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
title_full	On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
title_fullStr	On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
title_full_unstemmed	On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology
title_sort	on the nature of organs and organ systems – a chapter in the history and philosophy of biology
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/45629a089bd84402adba3a0d98547e1a
work_keys_str_mv	AT alessandrominelli onthenatureoforgansandorgansystemsachapterinthehistoryandphilosophyofbiology
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On the Nature of Organs and Organ Systems – A Chapter in the History and Philosophy of Biology

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