Greek classicism in living structure? Some deductive pathways in animal morphology

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Morphology
• Architectural Theory

Background:

• Ancient Greek temples exhibit two deterministic illusionistic architectural principles: geometric proportionalism and rules within its stochastic margin.
• Current mechanistic-deductive approaches in animal morphology predominantly apply a single architectural principle, which is often insufficient for explaining complex structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether a "Greek Classical" situation, characterized by dual deterministic principles, exists in the architecture of living structures.
• To explore the explanatory power of deductive methods in understanding animal morphology and its underlying design principles.

Main Methods:

• Proposed three deductive methods for explaining living structure in animal morphology: parts, compromise, and transformation deduction.
• Utilized systems concept for organisms, flow charts for functionalistic pictures, and network charts for structuralistic pictures.
• Employed the "optimal design" as the core architectural principle for living structures.

Main Results:

• Deductive methods demonstrate significant explanatory power in morphology, highlighting the existence of neutral issues.
• A complete explanation of living structure requires considering functional design, architectural constraints, and transformational constraints.
• Transformational constraints introduce a stochastic component (random variation) as a necessary 'free management space' for plasticity and flexibility.

Conclusions:

• Animal structures may mirror Greek Classical temples by possessing a deterministic component within random variations, suggesting rules governing actualization in the 'free management space'.
• This dual-principle system, combining deterministic optimal design with rule-governed stochastic variation, offers a more comprehensive framework for understanding animal morphology.