(IN)APPLICABILITY OF STATISTICAL METHODS TO THE STUDIES ON LIVING SYSTEMS: THEORETICAL LENS

Abstract

The paper theoretically explores the limitations of the statistical method. Specifically, we point to the inapplicability of statistics in the studies on living systems. Western interdisciplinary sciences, natural sciences and humanities, often analyze data and develop the lines of argumentation as endorsed by the statistical analysis. In the present study, we select several theoretical, applicational problems which question this methodological in the studies on living systems. Paradigmatic/philosophical considerations, the improbability principle, or the correlation between the variables in the research are among the themes we focus on in our paper. The underlying idea is that life processes and the living world operate in a reality which is both linear and nonlinear, local and nonlocal. Hence, the methodology of research into these living realms needs to bypass the computational approaches and algorithmic modelling. We argue that statistics (as a branch of mathematics) cannot be decisive as regards research and applicational programs on living systems.

Keywords

• living systems
• statistics
• quality