生物分类学的还原论困境及其突破的可能方向

The reductionism dilemma in biological taxonomy and the possible solutions

生物分类学的发展濒临危机,与其理论自身的困境不无关系。生物分类学运用归纳方法,以部分代表性特征解释整体种群、以特征对比解释系统发育的研究模式,自然导致其带有一种还原论的特性。这一特性与生物学的整体论思想之间存在着某种紧张关系,造成了分类学发展的内部困境。不同的生物分类学派在存在论、认识论与方法论三个层面表现出不同的还原论或整体论倾向。系统生物学在相当程度上实现了还原论与整体论的融合,为生物分类学走出理论困境带来了曙光。

The development of biological taxonomy has been on the verge of crisis; the plight of its theoretical foundation is closely related. From the perspective of the philosophy of science, the inductive research approaches of biological taxonomy, explaining species with partially representative characteristics and phylogeny with feature comparison, result in a reductionism characteristic of itself. Because of the contradiction between reductionism and holistic ideals of biology, the biological taxonomy is in a development dilemma. Different schools of biological taxonomy have reductionism or holism tendency to one degree or another and perspectives varying in ontology, epistemology and methodology. The development of systems biology beyond holism and reductionism bring a glimmer of hope to settle arguments.