A Paradigm Shift in Biology?

All new developments in biology deal with the issue of the complexity oforganisms, often pointing out the necessity to update our current understanding. However, it is impossible to think about a change of paradigm in biology without introducing newexplanatory mechanisms. I shall introduce the mechanisms of teleonomy and teleology asviable explanatory tools. Teleonomy is the ability of organisms to build themselves throughinternal forces and processes (in the expression of the genetic program) and not externalones, implying a freedom relative to the exterior; however, the organism is able to integrateinternal and external constraints in a process of co-adaptation. Teleology is that mechanismthrough which an organism exercises an informational control on another system in order toestablish an equivalence class and select some specific information for its metabolic needs. Finally, I shall examine some interesting processes in phylogeny, ontogeny, and epigeny inwhich these two mechanisms are involved