PhilSci Archive

Causal Specificity, Biological Possibility and Non-parity about Genetic Causes

Weber, Marcel (2018) Causal Specificity, Biological Possibility and Non-parity about Genetic Causes. In: UNSPECIFIED.

This is the latest version of this item.

[img]
Preview
Text
Causal Specificity Biological Possibility and Non-parity.pdf

Download (187kB) | Preview

Abstract

Several authors have used the notion of causal specificity in order to defend non-parity about genetic causes (Waters 2007, Woodward 2010, Weber 2017, forthcoming). Non-parity in this context is the idea that DNA and some other biomolecules that are often described as information-bearers by biologists play a unique role in life processes, an idea that has been challenged by Developmental Systems Theory (e.g., Oyama 2000). Indeed, it has proven to be quite difficult to state clearly what the alleged special role of genetic causes consists in. In this paper, I show that the set of biomolecules that are normally considered to be information-bearers (DNA, mRNA) can be shown to be the most specific causes of protein primary structure, provided that causal specificity is measured over a relevant space of biological possibilities, disregarding physical as well as logically possible states of the causal variables.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Weber, Marcelmarcel.weber@unige.ch
Keywords: Causal specificity, causal parity, biological possibility, explanation in biology
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
Depositing User: Prof. Marcel Weber
Date Deposited: 30 Oct 2018 13:19
Last Modified: 30 Oct 2018 13:19
Item ID: 15222
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
Date: 2018
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15222

Available Versions of this Item

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item