Frost-Arnold, Greg (2004) How to be an Anti-Reductionist about Developmental Biology: Response to Laubichler and Wagner. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Alexander Rosenberg recently claimed (1997) that developmental biology is currently being reduced to molecular biology. Laubichler & Wagner (2001) cite several concrete biological examples that are intended to impugn Rosenberg’s claim. I first argue that although Laubichler and Wagner’s examples would refute a very strong reductionism, a more moderate reductionism would escape their attacks. Next, taking my cue from the antireductionist’s perennial stress on the importance of spatial organization, I describe one form an empirical finding that refutes this moderate reductionism would take. Finally, I point out an actual example, anterior-posterior axis determination in the chick, that challenges the reductionist’s belief that all developmental regularities can be explained by molecular biology. In short, I argue that Rosenberg’s position can be saved from Laubichler and Wagner’s criticisms and putative counter-examples, but it would not survive a different kind of counter-example.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | The final version of this preprint was published in Biology and Philosophy 19 (2004): 75-91. | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Biology > Developmental Biology |
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| Depositing User: | Greg Frost-Arnold | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2008 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2010 15:17 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 4269 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Biology > Developmental Biology |
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| Date: | January 2004 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4269 |
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