Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Stability and Structure of Bat Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I with Heterologous β2-Microglobulin
Published on: March 10, 2021
Stability of arbitrary structures. Its implications for heredity and evolution. Part I
1Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
Abstract:
I designate the stance of seeking, in biological processes, essential isomorphism with the phenomena encountered in the human mind, reverse-reductionism, from which I expect to find an alternative way of reconstructing biology. From the axiom that structure (relationship among components) is arbitrary as is known from the Saussurean linguistic theory, it follows that relevant structures in various living processes are potentially multiple rather than unique. Moreover, a structure may take more than one configuration, whose transition should be conceived as transformation. However, structure itself is stable, or invariant by definition, and not subject to transformation. Both structure and its configurations are hereditary in the sense that they bind, with necessity, biological processes including genetic constitution. Such an invisible structure can be maintained dynamically over generations through the constraints imposed on the survival of organisms. Many characters, including genes, in an organism are only cryptically held, and may come to be manifested under certain unusual environmental conditions. Evolution is viewed as configurational transformations and emergence of new structures: once a structure emerges, all of its possible configurations are logically laid down, at the very outset, to channel the future course of its evolution, whose materialization, however, is a matter of contingency.
Related Concept Videos
Hardy-Weinberg Principle
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral chromosome underwent...
Stability of Equilibrium Configuration
A stable equilibrium occurs when a system tends to return to its original position when given a small displacement, and the potential energy is at its minimum. An example of a stable equilibrium is when a cantilever beam is fixed at one end and a weight is attached to the other end. If the weight...
Stability of structures

