Question: In biology, what is the relationship between jargon, that is, specialized language terms that already exist in a language, and the precise meanings they denote? Where do new meanings come from? What is the value of neologisms? Where does knowledge figure in all this?
Case study: Shades of meaning of “biological function”
Amundson, R., Lauder, G.V. Function without purpose. Biol Philos 9, 443–469 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00850375
Arno G Wouters. Four notions of biological function. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Vol 34, Issue 4 633-668, (2003). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2003.09.006
Additional: The problematic case of de novo gene emergence
Diane Marie Keeling et al. The meanings of ‘function’ in biology and the problematic case of de novo gene emergence. eLife 8:e47014 (2019). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.47014