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4
Molecular Ethology, An Immodest
Proposal for Semantic Clarification*
HEINZ VON FOERSTER
Departments of Biophysics and Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois,
Urbana, Illinois
I. Introduction
Molecular genetics is one example of a successful bridge that links a phe-
nomenology of macroscopic things experienced directly (a taxonomy of
species; intraspecies variations; etc.) with the structure and function of a few
microscopic elementary units (in this case a specific set of organic macro-
molecules) whose properties are derived from other, independent obser-
vations. An important step in building this bridge is the recognition that
these elementary units are not necessarily the sole constituents of the
macroscopic properties observable in things, but are determiners for the
synthesis of units that constitute the macroscopic entities. Equally helpful
is the metaphor which considers these units as a “program,” and the syn-
thesized constituents in their macroscopic manifestation as the result of a
“computation,” controlled and initiated by the appropriate program. The
genes for determining blue eyes are not blue eyes, but in blue eyes one will
find replicas of genes that determine the development of blue eyes.
Stimulated by the success of molecular genetics, one is tempted to search
again for a bridge that links another set of macroscopic phenomena, namely
the behavior of living things, with the structure and function of a few micro-
scopic elementary units, most likely the same ones that are responsible for
shape and organization of the living organism. However, “molecular ethol-
ogy” has so far not yet been blessed by success, and it may be worthwhile
to investigate the causes.
One of these appears to be man's superior cognitive powers in discrimi-
nating and identifying forms and shapes as compared to those powers which
allow him to discriminate and identify change and movement. Indeed, there
is a distinction between these two cognitive processes, and this distinction
is reflected by a difference in semantic structure of the linguistic elements
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