The meaning of the word “theoretical biology” depends on what we understand by the word “theory.” Here, we assume that a theory is a compact set of concepts and principles able to unify and explain a certain class of facts, in this case related to the phenomenon of life. In exemplary fashion, the conceptual apparatus used is abstractive enough to be formalized in terms of mathematics. In the course of the history of science, we can distinguish only a few systems of views that are worth to be termed the biological theory. Some of these are reviewed below in the order of their original formulation.
Circulation Theory. In a sense, this theory goes back to traditional Chinese medicine and a concept of Zang Fu including five pairs of organs connected by five “fluids,” among which we distinguish Xue (blood) (Ross 1989). Contrary to Western medicine, the Eastern, Chinese medicine was more theoretical than experimental, though both have finally the practical purposes. It was William Harvey...
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Kurzynski, M. (2013). Biology, Theoretical. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_143
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