Morphological elements, or structures, are sorted into four categories depending on their level of anatomical isolation and the presence or absence of intrinsically identifying characteristics. These four categories are used to highlight the difficulties with the concept of structure and our ability to identify or define structures. The analysis is extended to the concept of homology through a discussion of the methodological and philosophical problems of the current concept of homology. It is argued that homology is fundamentally a similarity based (...) concept rather than a phylogenetic concept, and a proposal is put forth to return to a comparative context for homology. It is shown that for both the concepts of structure and homology ana priori assumption of stable underlying patterns (i.e. archetypes) is essential. (shrink)

Notwithstanding the general rise of experimental disciplines in biology in the first decades of our century, in Germany and in the Netherlands the interest in the idealistic morphological tradition flourished, and compensated for a reductionistic causal approach to natural phenomena. This article analyses the influence of the German idealistic morphologists W. Lubosch and A. Meyer on the development of C.J. van der Klaauw's epistemology. It discusses the gradual incorporation of non-causal principles into van der Klaauw's concept of biology. Van der (...) Klaauw's epistemological concept of holistic biology was shaped in a critical confrontation with German idealistic morphology, and his early considerations can be interpreted as a direct impulse towards the development of his theory of functional components. Van der Klaauw's theories, being an alternative to the reductionistic experimental sciences, were among the causes of the fact that in the first half of our century biology in the Netherlands took a course deviating from the development of biology in the Anglo-American countries. (shrink)

Con el advenimiento de la Teoría Craneana Funcional de van der Klaauw, la morfología pudo vincular de una forma más precisa la relación entre estructura, función y presiones ambientales. De esta forma, constituyó un marco teórico fundamental para los estudios sobre crecimiento y desarrollo craneofacial. No existen antecedentes de una reconstrucción epistemológica de esta teoría.El objetivo del presente trabajo es realizar una reconstrucción epistemológica mediante un enfoque hipotético-deductivo de la Teoría Craneana Funcional y determinar si cumple con los requisitos epistemológicos (...) de una teoría. Se concluye que la Teoría Craneana Funcional no define términos teóricos como “unidad funcional” y “componente funcional”, existiendo vaguedad conceptual entre ambos. La introducción de la definición de ambos conceptos permite concluir que se refieren a entidades diferentes. Y, finalmente, la teoría de van der Klaauw puede ser organizada de un modo hipotético-deductivo.With the appearance of the Functional Cranial Theory of van der Klaauw, the morphology could link in a more precise way the relationship among structure, function and environmental pressures. It constituted a fundamental theoretical frame for craneofacial studies of growth and development. Antecedents of an epistemological reconstruction of this theory do not exist. The objective of the present work is to carry out an epistemological reconstruction by means of a hypothetical-deductive focus of the Functional Cranial Theory.It is concluded that the Functional Cranial Theory doesn’t define theoretical terms as “functional unit” and “functional component”, existing conceptual uncertainty between both. The introduction of the definition of both concepts allows to conclude that they refer to different entities. And, finally, the theory of van der Klaauw can be organized in a hypothetical-deductive way. (shrink)