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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

178228

Boundary questions between ontology and biology

Pietro Ramellini

pp. 153-175

Abstract

This chapter deals with some problems linking biology and ontology. After a general survey of the most prominent ontological questions lying behind biology, the study case of biological boundaries is addressed. The scrutiny of the relevant literature shows that biologists speak of various types of boundary: perceptual, compositional, epithelial, cellular and sensu lato processual boundaries; all of them appear to be, in a way or another, flawed by some theoretical inconsistencies. So, a new concept of organismic boundary is introduced and discussed, by which the organismic boundary is the (concrete) part of an organism which spatially encompasses all and only the other (concrete) parts of that organism.

Publication details

Published in:

Poli Roberto, Seibt Johanna (2010) Theory and applications of ontology: philosophical perspectives. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 153-175

DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-8845-1_8

Full citation:

Ramellini Pietro (2010) „Boundary questions between ontology and biology“, In: R. Poli & J. Seibt (eds.), Theory and applications of ontology, Dordrecht, Springer, 153–175.