María Ferreira Ruiz (University of Geneva)
Against claims that, in biology, 'information' is used merely metaphorically, or that it cannot be rigorously accounted for, a very recent approach sets out to provide a rich, substantial concept of biological information by analyzing the information talk in biology in terms of causal specificity and the mathematical theory of communication. I examine what a substantial concept of biological information would be, and contend that no such concept follows from the framework. I discuss the grounds for claiming that the framework yields a substantial concept of biological information as opposed to some other concept, and the extent to which it yields a substantial concept of biological information, as opposed to an unsubstantial one. Rather than help vindicating the information talk in biology, it can be used to argue for (biological) information-eliminativism. Ultimately, key questions about the invocation of information in biological explanation remain open.
