Falk, Raphael (Author)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 41
Pages: 396--406
The dialectic discourse of the `gene' as the unit of heredity deduced from the phenotype, whether an intervening variable or a hypothetical construct, appeared to be settled with the presentation of the molecular model of DNA: the gene was reduced to a sequence of DNA that is transcribed into RNA that is translated into a polypeptide; the polypeptides may fold into proteins that are involved in cellular metabolism and structure, and hence function. This path turned out to be more bewildering the more the regulation of products and functions were uncovered in the contexts of integrated cellular systems. Philosophers struggling to define a unified concept of the gene as the basic entity of (molecular) genetics confronted those who suggested several different `genes' according to the conceptual frameworks of the experimentalists. Researchers increasingly regarded genes de facto as generic terms for describing their empiric data, and with improved DNA-sequencing capacities these entities were as a rule bottom-up nucleotide sequences that determine functions. Only recently did empiricists return to discuss conceptual considerations, including top-down definitions of units of function that through cellular mechanisms select the DNA sequences which comprise `genomic-footprints' of functional entities.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph;
(2006)
Genes in Labs: Concepts of Development and the Standard Environment
Book
J. Craig Venter;
David Ewing Duncan;
(2023)
The Voyage of Sorcerer II: The Expedition That Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean’s Microbiome
Essay Review
Wolfe, Audra J.;
(2001)
ELSI's Revenge
Article
Pierrel, Jérôme;
(2012)
An RNA Phage Lab: MS2 in Walter Fiers' Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Ghent, from Genetic Code to Gene and Genome, 1963--1976
Article
Yi, Doogab;
(2007)
The Coming of Reversibility: The Discovery of DNA Repair between the Atomic Age and the Information Age
Book
Kostas Kampourakis;
(2021)
Understanding Genes
Book
Russell Bonduriansky;
Troy Day;
(2018)
Extended Heredity: A New Understanding of Inheritance and Evolution
Article
Michael Fry;
(2018)
Predictive Hypotheses Are Ineffectual in Resolving Complex Biochemical Systems
Article
Alexis De Tiège;
Yves Van de Peer;
Johan Braeckman;
Koen B. Tanghe;
(2017)
The Sociobiology of Genes: The Gene’s Eye View as a Unifying Behavioural-Ecological Framework for Biological Evolution
Article
Cresto, Eleonora;
(2008)
In Search of the Best Explanation about the Nature of the Gene: Avery on Pneumococcal Transformation
Article
Hall, Kersten T.;
(2011)
William Astbury and the Biological Significance of Nucleic Acids, 1938--1951
Book
Schwartz, James;
(2008)
In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA
Chapter
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg;
(2012)
Internationalism and the History of Molecular Biology
Article
Zdenka Brzović;
Predrag Šustar;
(2020)
Postgenomics function monism
Book
Marta Bertolaso;
(2016)
Philosophy of Cancer: A Dynamic and Relational View
Article
Philippe Huneman;
(2019)
The Multifaceted Legacy of the Human Genome Program for Evolutionary Biology: An Epistemological Perspective
Book
Nowotny, Helga;
Testa, Giuseppe;
(2011)
Naked Genes: Reinventing The Human in the Molecular Age
Article
McKnight, Steven;
Beyer, Ann;
Gall, Joseph;
(2012)
Oscar Miller (1925--2012)
Article
Chow-White, Peter A.;
García-Sancho, Miguel;
(2012)
Bidirectional Shaping and Spaces of Convergence: Interactions between Biology and Computing from the First DNA Sequencers to Global Genome Databases
Article
Gisler, Priska;
Kurath, Monika;
(2011)
Paradise Lost? “Science” and “the Public” after Asilomar
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Journal of the History of Biology
Science, Technology, and Human Values
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences
Perspectives on Science
Be the first to comment!