Abstract

DRESSINO, Vicente. Restricciones de desarrollo y selección natural: una perspectiva teórica y epistémica desde la teoría de la complejidad. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2013, vol.15, n.1, pp.37-46. ISSN 1514-7991.

The use of the term "constraints" in biology includes all the organization levels and it is applied to different disciplines. Thus, the vagueness of the term in reference to the different particularities in which it is used has led to several confusions. In general, the reason why this term is used and the sense in which it is employed are not appropriately justified. Also, when the term "constraint" is analyzed from the perspective of complexity, its meaning is even more diffused. The objective of the present work is to analyze the theoretical problems of the use of developmental constraints, their relation with other types of constraints, and with the concept of natural selection. It is concluded that the term "developmental constraint" is unnecessary and polysemic. Moreover, the explanatory power of the term is questionable and cannot be tested with current scientific methods.

Keywords : Growth; Evolution; Theoretical problems; Philosophy of biology; Complexity.

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