IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/elg/eechap/16937_22.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Complex analogy and modular exaptation: some definitional clarifications

In: Handbook of Research Methods in Complexity Science

Author

Listed:
  • Professor Pierpaolo Andriani
  • Professor Giuseppe Carignani

Abstract

This chapter discusses the complex analogy between biological evolution and technological innovation, focusing in particular on the novel construct modular exaptation. After carefully defining exaptation – a biological concept whose technological analogue is useful in innovation studies – the chapter explores its epistemological bases, arguing that the etiological concept of function – a biological tenet – is valid also in the technological domain. The complex analogy extends to biological and technological functional modules, providing the main building block on which modular exaptation can be founded. Establishing a complex analogy enables the description of the two domains via the same relational structure. In turns this allows the transferability of knowledge from the base domain to the target domain, and vice-versa. The complex analogy can therefore be considered a methodological tool for understanding complex systems in general and technological innovation in particular, as discussed in the final section of the chapter.

Suggested Citation

  • Professor Pierpaolo Andriani & Professor Giuseppe Carignani, 2018. "Complex analogy and modular exaptation: some definitional clarifications," Chapters, in: Eve Mitleton-Kelly & Alexandros Paraskevas & Christopher Day (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Complexity Science, chapter 22, pages 483-506, Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:16937_22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781785364419.00035.xml
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:16937_22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Darrel McCalla (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.e-elgar.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.