生物学中有定律吗?——生物学中的三种规律

Are There Laws of Nature in Biology? Three Kinds of Regularities in Biology

我们常问:“生物学中有定律吗?”,但目前为止如何去定义“定律”却没有一个清晰的标准。过去认为生物中没有定律的论点(如多重实现、进化的偶然性)是不成立的。即使以最严格的普遍且有经验标准来定义定律,根据生物进化的特点,也不能认为生物学中没有定律。与物理学相比较,生物学中三种规律:普遍且有经验的规律,普遍却无经验的规律和偶然性规律,一般默认的定律是指普遍且有经验的规律。但重要的是,我们不应该要求所有科学家追求的目标是发现定律,尤其是在生物学领域,普遍却无经验的规律和偶然性规律在生物学中也有重要的意义。

We often ask,“Are there laws of nature in biology?”,but so far there is no clear standard for how to define “law”.In the past,the argument that there is no law in biology(such as multiple realization and contingency of evolution) is untenable.Even if laws are defined by the strictest universal and empirical standards,based on the properties of evolution,it cannot be considered that there is no law in biology.Compared with physics,there are three kinds of regularities in biology:universal and experienced law,universal but inexperienced regularity and contingency regularity.The generally accepted law refers to universal and experienced law.But what is important is that we should not require all scientists to pursue the goal of discovering laws.Especially in the field of biology,the universal but inexperienced regularities and contingency regularities are also important.