General Variation Theory: A Perspective of Generalized Science

ABSTRACT The representative discussion on “variation” originates from Life Science; however, “variation” also exists in the fields of Natural Science, and Humanities and Social Science. And each of these three fields has certain continuity and internal consistency in their “arche” (ἀρχή) and “variation” processes. Particle variation, gene variation, and meme variation occur in nature, life, and culture respectively; they all start with “hereditary” with specific structure and evolve into various things that can be perceived by experience in various fields via the “selection” of an “invisible hand.” This process is clearly described in natural philosophy and metaphysical realism, which can be summarized as the generation theoretical and dualistic “ontology-variant” variation view. Through a full view of generalized science, a knowledge chain of “variation” is extracted, which is referred to as “general variation theory” in this article. This theoretical concept consists of four closely related parts: basic variation, nature variation, life variation, and cultural variation. Each of them has its own independent question domain and knowledge model; while, at the same time, there is a certain continuous, inclusive, and integrated relationship running through these four parts, thus generating a universal explanatory effectiveness in this sense.