Bernard Feltz

Self-Organization, Selection and Emergence in the Theories of Evolution

Since Darwin, the hypothesis of natural selection has gained such a considerable weight in the explanation of biological evolution that, in the context of the synthetic theory, the pressure of the selection is now seen as the single source of order in the evolution of the living. However this thesis has been undermined by recent research on self-organization. In particular, S. Kauffman, in several books, tries to demonstrate that an organization can arise independently from any pressure of selection, and pleads for a combination of self-organization and selection inside of one theory explaining biological evolution. I would like to try to clarify this debate by presenting a summary and an epistemological analysis of the ideas of S. Kauffman. Therefore I will first refer to the research work on the explanation at stake in the synthetic theory, in order to investigate the compatibility of selection and self-organization regarding the synthetic theory. Then, I will refer to other areas of biological sciences using the selection-oriented explanation: immunology and neuroscience. Indeed in each of these fields, recent theories make use of a combination of the principle of selection together with a preexisting organization. An analysis of the possible combinations between selection and self-organization will be most helpful. The concept of emergence is present all through this book. Selforganization is often associated with emergence, which classically means the appearance of a level of complexity more advanced than the existing components of a system. Furthermore current epistemological research on emergence opposes emergence and reduction; in this context some studies indicate that the concept of selection can play a central role in favor of the non-reductionist assertion of the autonomy of the biological sciences, in

L'inné et l'acquis dans les neurosciences contemporaines

Contemporary neurosciences are examined in the light of the works of Gerald Edelman. In the first part the theory of selection of neuronal groups and the conceptions of consciousness which follow from it are presented synthetically. A first philosophical analysis has to do with the question of reductionism in connection with the various conceptions of intertheoretical reductionism. The contribution of the theory of the selection of neuronal groups in the context of the problem of what is inborn and what is acquired is then studied in connection with the philosophical analyses of the relationships between structure and function. The great conceptual fruitfulness of the theories of Edelman is then pointed out both in the scientific and in the philosophical fields.

Edelman's theory of neuronal group selection and reductionism

Reductionism in the life sciences classically concerns the relations between biology and the physico-chemical sciences. I would like to first present a synthetic analysis of this problematic. Second, I will confront the conclusions of this analysis with Gerald Edelman’s theory of neuronal group selection.