Aspects of Reductive Explanation in Biological Science
Intrinsicality, Fundamentality, and Temporality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399691 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andreas Hüttemann (0000-0003-0646-3092, University of Cologne), Alan C Love (0000-0003-4422-7779, University of Minnesota) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 519-549 |
| Publication date | 2011-09-01 |
| 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/axr006 |
| OpenAlex | W2143564600 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 48 |
The inapplicability of variations on theory reduction in the context of genetics and their irrelevance to ongoing research has led to an anti-reductionist consensus in philosophy of biology. One response to this situation is to focus on forms of reductive explanation that better correspond to actual scientific reasoning (e.g. part–whole relations). Working from this perspective, we explore three different aspects (intrinsicality, fundamentality, and temporality) that arise from distinct facets of reductive explanation: composition and causation. Concentrating on these aspects generates new forms of reductive explanation and conditions for their success or failure in biology and other sciences. This analysis is illustrated using the case of protein folding in molecular biology, which demonstrates its applicability and relevance, as well as illuminating the complexity of reductive reasoning in a specific biological context. 1 Introduction2 Composition, Causation, and Varieties of Reduction 2.1 Composition versus causation 2.2 The Nagelian framework and its aftermath3 Part-whole Reduction: Intrinsicality, Fundamentality, and Temporality 3.1 Intrinsicality and fundamentality 3.2 Temporality 3.2.1 Atemporal part-whole reduction 3.2.2 Temporal (causal) part-whole reduction4 The Protein Folding Problem 4.1 Background and significance 4.2 Reductive explanation in molecular biology5 Philosophical Evaluation 5.1 Application: intrinsicality and fundamentality 5.2 Relevance: temporality6 Conclusion
Biology · Causation · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Political science · Reductionism · Relevance (law) · Temporality · Gene Regulatory Network Analysis · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
A relational-constructionist account of protein macrostructure and function
An epistemic argument for evolutionary dispositions
A Minimal Metaphysics for Scientific Practice
Nagel on reduction11For discussions, in some cases over many decades, thanks are due to Jordi Cat, Alan Love, Ken Schaffner, Abner Shimony, John Stachel, and Bill Wimsatt. Comments by participants of the Formal Epistemology and the Legacy of Logical Empiricism Workshop (University of Texas, Austin, Spring 2013) and the audience at a Philosophy Department seminar at the University of Sydney were also useful. For comments on previous drafts, thanks are due to Justin Garson and Thomas Uebel.
Biology meets physics
DNA is not an ontologically distinctive developmental cause
Dimensions of integration in interdisciplinary explanations of the origin of evolutionary novelty
Un-Promethean” science and the future of humanity
Sharing uncertainty
Are causal facts really explanatorily emergent? Ladyman and Ross on higher-level causal facts and renormalization group explanation
Collaborative explanation, explanatory roles, and scientific explaining in practice
Mixed-Effects Modeling and Nonreductive Explanation
New Perspectives on Reductionism in Biology
Multilevel Research Strategies and Biological Systems
After Fifty Years, Why Are Protein X-ray Crystallographers Still in Business
Getting over Atomism
Where Do You Get Your Protein? Or
Toward a new philosophy of biology
Philosophy of Experimental Biology
The Structure of Biological Science
Mind in a Physical World
Making Things Happen
Top-down Causation Without Top-down Causes
La Estructura De La Ciencia
The Dappled World
Reduction
Calibrating and constructing models of protein folding
Special sciences (or
Approaches to Reduction
Dimensions of Scientific Law
Explanation, Emergence, and Quantum Entanglement
Thinking about Mechanisms
The Multiple Realizability Argument Against Reductionism
Aggregativity
The Supervenience of Biological Concepts
And all That. A Tale of Two Sciences
The Watson-Crick Model and Reductionism
Sex and death
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,31 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2024 (12) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |