Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Explanations in Konstruktionsmorphologie and Evolutionary Morphology

  • Conference paper
Constructional Morphology and Evolution

Summary

An analysis of the different uses of Konstruktionsmorphologie (KM) is presented in the light of nomological-deductive (N-D E) and historical-narrative explanations (H-N E) in science. It was argued that the term KM should be restricted to N-D approaches, and that the proper English translation is engineering, not constructional, morphology. H-N approaches to KM are best termed evolutionary morphology. Studies of evolutionary morphology must be based on accepted causes and processes of evolutionary change (N-D Es). Constraints are initial and boundary conditions in explanations of evolutionary processes; they do not serve as causes of evolutionary change. Explanations of evolutionary change based only internal causes (e.g., causes completely internal to living organisms) are unacceptable, as not all of these causes have been demonstrated empirically. Complete morphological explanations require both N-D and H-N explanations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bock WJ (1959) Preadaptation and multiple evolutionary pathways. Evolution 13:194–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1967) The use of adaptive characters in avian classification. In: Snow D (ed) Proc 14th Int Ornithol Congr Oxford. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 61–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1974) The avian skeletomuscular system. In: Farner DS, King JR (eds) Avian biology, Vol 4. Academic Press, New York London, pp 119–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1977) Toward an ecological morphology. Vogelwarte 29:127–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1979) The synthetic explanation of macroevolutionary change — a reductionistic approach. Bull Carnegie Mus 13:20–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1980) The definition and recognition of biological adaptation. Am Zool 20:217–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1981) Functional-adaptive analysis in evolutionary classification. Am Zool 21:5–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1986 a) Species concepts, speciation, and macroevolution. In: Iwatsuki K, Raven PH, Bock WJ (eds) Modem aspects of species. Univ Press, Tokyo, pp 31–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1986 b) The arboreal origin of avian flight. Mem Cal Acad Sci 8:57–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1988) The nature of explanations in morphology. Am Zool 28:205–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1989 a) Principles of biological comparisons. Acta Morphol Neerl Scand 26:17–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1989b) Organisms as functional machines: a connectivity explanation. Am Zool 29:1119–1132

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1989c) The homology concept: its philosophical foundation and practical methodology. Zool Beitr NF 32:327–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ (1990) From biologische Anatomie to ecomorphology. Neth J Zool 40:254–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ, Caplan AL (in preparation) Explanations in evolutionary biology

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ, Hornberger DG (1988) Symposium: Questions, explanations, models and tests in morphology: the interaction between hypotheses and empirical observations. Am Zool 28:183–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ, Wahlert G von (1963) Two evolutionary theories — a discussion. Br J Philos Sci 14:140–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bock WJ, Wahlert G von (1965) Adaptation and the form-function complex. Evolution 19:269–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Böker H (1935–7) Vergleichende biologische Anatomie der Wirbeltiere. Fischer, Jena

    Google Scholar 

  • Caplan AL, Bock WJ (1988) Haunt me no longer. Biol Philos 4:443–454; 472–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis DD (1958) The proper goal of comparative anatomy. Proc Cent Bicent Congr Biol, Singapore, pp 44–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis DD (1964) The giant panda. A morphological study of evolutionary mechanisms. Fieldiana Zool Mem 3:1–339

    Google Scholar 

  • Dullemeijer P (1972) Explanation in morphology. Acta Biotheor 21:260–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dullemeijer P (1974) Concepts and approaches in animals morphology. Van Gorcum, Assen

    Google Scholar 

  • Dullemeijer P (1980) Functional morphology and evolutionary biology. Acta Biotheor 29:151–250

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dullemeijer P (1985) Diversity of functional morphological explanation. Acta Biotheor 34:111–124

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dullemeijer P, Barel CDN (1977) Functional morphology and evolution. In: Hecht MK, Goody P, Hecht B (eds) Major patterns in vertebrate evolution. Plenum, New York, pp 83–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyke C (1988) The evolutionary dynamics of complex systems. A study in biological complexity. Oxford Univ Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans C (1985) Vertebrate morphology: Tale of a phoenix. Am Zool 25:689–694

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans C (1989) On phylogenetic constraints. Acta Morphol Neerl Scand 27:133–138

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1970) Evolutionary paleontology and the science of form. Earth Sci Rev 6:77–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Lewontin RC (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc London Ser B 205:581–598

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Vrba ES (1982) Exaptation — a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology 8:4–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1966) Zu Bau und Leistung von Tierkonstruktionen, 4–6. Abh Senckenb Naturforsch Ges 150:1–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1971) Der biomechanische Gehalt der Wurmtheorie. Z Wiss Zool 182:229–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1972) Die Hydroskelett-Theorie. Aufs Reden Senckenb Naturforsch Ges 21:1–91

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1978) Wie werden Muskeln beim Wachstum verlängert? Nat Mus 108:267–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1987 a) Organismus and Konstruktion. I. Das energetisch getriebene System und die Evolution. Nat Mus 117:165–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1987b) Organismus und Konstruktion. II. Wie die Eigenheiten der Lebewesen von Philosophie, Biophysik und Morphologie verpasst werden. Nat Mus 117:288–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1988) The hydraulic principle. Am Zool 28:257–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WF (1989) Die Evolution hydraulischer Konstruktion. Organismische Wandlung statt altdarwinistischer Anpassung. Kramer, Frankfurt/M

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann WG, Bonik K (1981) Kritische Evolutionstheorie. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse R, Doflein F (1910–14) Tierbau und Tierleben in ihrem Zusammenhang betrachtet, 2 vols. Teubner, Leipzig Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger DG (1986) The lingual apparatus of the African grey parrot, Psittacus erithacus Linné (Aves: Psittacidae): description and theoretical mechanical analysis. Ornithol Monogr 39:xi–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger DG (1988) Models and tests in functional morphology: The significance of description and integration. Am Zool 28:217–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer L, Bock WJ (1989) Symposium: Is the organism necessary. Am Zool 29:1055–1197

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenior T (1982) The strategy of life. Reidel, Dordrecht (reprinted: 1989, Univ Press, Chicago)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liem KF, Wake DB (1985) Morphology: current approaches and concepts. In: Hilderbrand M, Bramble DM, Liem KF, Wake DB (eds) Functional vertebrate morphology. Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, pp 366–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1961) Cause and effect in biology. Science 134:1501–1506

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1976) Evolution and the diversity of life. Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1982) The growth of biological thought. Diversity, evolution and inheritance. Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1985) Weismann and evolution. J Hist Biol 18:295–329 (reprinted: Mayr E (1988) Toward a new philosophy of biology. Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge)

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nagel E (1961) The structure of science. Harcourt, Brace, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Osse JWM, Barel CDN, Dubbeldam JL (eds) (1989) Explanations in functional morphology. Acta Morphol Neerl Scand 27:1–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Pranger R (1990) Towards a pluralistic concept of function. Functional statements in biology. Acta Biotheor 38:63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reif WE (1983) Functional morphology and evolutionary ecology. Paläontologie 57:255–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Reif WE, Thomas RDK, Fischer MS (1985) Constructional morphology: The analysis of constraints in evolution. Acta Biotheor 34:233–243

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seilacher A (1970) Arbeitskonzept zur Konstruktions-Morphologie. Lethaia 3:393–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seilacher A (1972) Divaricate patterns in polecypod shells. Lethaia 5:325–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seilacher A (1979) Constructional morphology of sand dollars. Paleobiology 5:191–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Seilacher A (1989) Vendozoa: organismic construction in the Proterozoic biosphere. Lethaia 22:229–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stümpke H (1961) Bau und Leben der Rhinogradentia. Fischer, Stuttgart (reprinted: 1967, The snouters. Form and life of the rhinograds. Univ Chicago Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Szalay FS, Bock WJ (1991) Evolutionary theory and systematics: Connections and differences between neontology and paleontology. Syst Evol Forsch (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas RDK (1979) Constructional morphology. In: Fairbridge RW, Jablonski D (eds) The encyclopedia of paleontology. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel K (1989) Constructional morphology and the reconstruction of phylogeny. Abb Naturwiss Ver Hamburg 28:255–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Wake DB (1982) Functional and evolutionary morphology. Persp Biol Med 25:603–620

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wake DB, Roth G (eds) (1989) Complex organismal functions: integration and evolution in vertebrates. Dahlem Workshop Reports, Life Science Research Reports 45. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber H (1955) Stellung und Aufgaben der Morphologie in der Zoologie der Gegenwart. Zool Anz, Suppl 18:137–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber H (1958) Konstruktionsmorphologie. Zool Jahrb Abt Allg Zool Phys Tiere 68:1–112

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Walter J. Bock

Authors
  1. Walter J. Bock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Saarstr. 21, 6500, Mainz, Germany

    Norbert Schmidt-Kittler

  2. Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, J. W. Goethe-Universität, Senckenberganlage 32-34, 6000, Frankfurt a. M., Germany

    Klaus Vogel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Bock, W.J. (1991). Explanations in Konstruktionsmorphologie and Evolutionary Morphology. In: Schmidt-Kittler, N., Vogel, K. (eds) Constructional Morphology and Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76156-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76156-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76158-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76156-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation