?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Organicism+and+Reductionism+in+Cancer+Research%3A+Towards+a+Systemic+Approach&rft.creator=Malaterre%2C+Christophe&rft.subject=Medicine&rft.subject=Biology&rft.subject=Reductionism%2FHolism&rft.description=In+recent+cancer+research%2C+strong+and+apparently+conflicting+epistemological+stances+have+been+advocated+by+different+research+teams+in+a+mist+of+an+ever-growing+body+of+knowledge+ignited+by+ever-more+perplexing+and+non-conclusive+experimental+facts%3A+in+the+past+few+years%2C+an+%E2%80%98organicist%E2%80%99+approach+investigating+cancer+development+at+the+tissue+level+has+challenged+the+established+and+so-called+%E2%80%98reductionist%E2%80%99+approach+focusing+on+disentangling+the+genetic+and+molecular+circuitry+of+carcinogenesis.+This+article+reviews+the+ways+in+which+%E2%80%98organicism%E2%80%99+and+%E2%80%98reductionism%E2%80%99+are+used+and+opposed+in+this+context%2C+with+an+aim+at+clarifying+the+debate.+Methodological%2C+epistemological+and+ontological+implications+of+both+approaches+are+discussed.+We+argue+that+the+%E2%80%98organicist%2Freductionist%E2%80%99+opposition+in+the+present+case+of+carcinogenesis+is+more+a+matter+of+diverging+heuristics+than+a+claim+about+theoretical+or+ontological+(ir)reducibility.+As+a+matter+of+fact%2C+except+for+the+downward+causation+claim%2C+which+we+question%2C+we+argue+that+the+organicist+arguments+are+compatible+with+the+reductionist+approach.+Moreover%2C+we+speculate+that+both+approaches%2C+which+currently+focus+on+specific+entities+i.e.+genes+versus+tissues%2C+will+need+to+shift+their+conceptual+frameworks+to+studying+complex+arrays+of+relationships+potentially+ranging+over+several+levels+of+entities%2C+as+is+the+case+with+%E2%80%98systems+biology%E2%80%99.&rft.date=2007-03&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fphilsci-archive.pitt.edu%2F5411%2F1%2FMALATERRE__2007_%252D_Organicism_and_reductionism_in_cancer_research_%252D_Preprint.pdf&rft.identifier=Malaterre%2C+Christophe+(2007)+Organicism+and+Reductionism+in+Cancer+Research%3A+Towards+a+Systemic+Approach.+[Preprint]&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fphilsci-archive.pitt.edu%2F5411%2