Ratti, Emanuele (2025) Measuring Cells - Laboratory Work and Bioinformatics. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The goal of this article is to construct an account of measurement in molecular biology, with an emphasis on bioinformatics practices. The reasons for constructing this account are two. First, I fill a lacuna in philosophy of biology and philosophy of science, where measuring practices in bioinformatics and molecular biology have been neglected. Second, I argue against a popular idea in molecular biology, according to which experimentalists are in a better position to characterize biological phenomena than bioinformaticians, because of their material access to experimental systems. By arguing that bioinformaticians can measure things that experimentalists cannot, I show that this claim is unwarranted.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Ratti, Emanuele mnl.ratti@gmail.com 0000-0003-1409-8240
Keywords:	experiments; bioinformatics; molecular biology; measurement
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics Specific Sciences > Computer Science General Issues > Experimentation General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Technology
Depositing User:	Dr Emanuele Ratti
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2025 14:36
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2025 14:36
Item ID:	26332
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics Specific Sciences > Computer Science General Issues > Experimentation General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Technology
Date:	2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26332

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