Gene Names as Proper Names of Individuals
An Assessment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399330 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas A C Reydon (0000-0002-1804-0532, Leibniz University Hannover, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 409-432 |
| Publication date | 2009-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axp002 |
| OpenAlex | W2023777038 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 39 |
According to a recent suggestion, the names of gene taxa should be conceived of as referring to individuals with concrete genes as their parts, just as the names of biological species are often understood as denoting individuals with organisms as their parts. Although prima facie this suggestion might advance the debate on gene concepts in a similar way as the species-are-individuals thesis advanced the debate on species concepts, I argue that the principal arguments in support of the gene-individuality thesis are much less compelling than the parallel arguments in the species case. In addition, I argue that the notion of biological function invoked in the gene-individuality thesis (selected effect) is not the one that biologists actually use when individuating genes. Contra the gene-individuality thesis, I argue that gene names refer to kinds, defined primarily (though not exclusively) by causal-role functions. 1. Introduction2. Species as Individuals: The Two Main Arguments3. Gene-Lineages as Individuals: Rosenberg's Argumentation4. Assessing the GAI-Thesis 4.1. Metaphysics: What biology tells us about lineages4.2. Epistemology: How biologists individuate the parts of genomes5. What Do Gene Names Refer To?6. Why the GAI-thesis Won't Solve the Gene Problem
Biology · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Function (biology) · Gene · Gene nomenclature · Identity (music) · Metaphysics · Natural kind · Nomenclature · Prima facie · Taxonomy (biology) · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies · Ecology · Genetics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
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Are Species Really Individuals?
A Radical Solution to the Species Problem
More Worry and Less Love
Twentieth-Century Changes in Beluga Whale Hunting and Butchering by the Kanigmiut of Buckland, Alaska
On the nature of the species problem and the four meanings of ‘species’
Generalizations and kinds in natural science
How biologists conceptualize genes
Four notions of biological function
Species in three and four dimensions
What is a gene
A Matter of Individuality
Genes Made Molecular
Bacteria, Sex, and Systematics
Genes
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,12 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2021 (13) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |