Abstract

Because the term ‘epigenetics’ has been used in a wide array of inquires within the life-sciences, it has come to bear a significant number of meanings. And just as biologists cannot come to an univocal understanding on what epigenetics connotes, the effect that its study has had in challenging contemporary neo-Darwinian, genecentred paradigms is also unclear. Some scientists and philosophers go as far as to say epigenetics has eroded dichotomies central to modern western thought, such as nature and nurture, or genotype and phenotype – but the matter ignites a great deal of controversy. What seems unquestionable, however, is that the notion that genetic material is a ‘programme’ that simply manifests itself in an external correlative, thus accounting for the development of a living organism, seems to have – at the very least – shifted. Rather than attempting to pinpoint the implications of epigenetics in contemporary biology, this article focuses on the ‘literary’ dimension of scientific debate: instability of meaning, metaphorical shifts, a redrawing of margins and limits. Furthermore, it will be argued that metaphor does not merely have a pedagogical value in the field but rather works proactively throughout the genesis, development and morphology of science and theory. By outlining a ‘literary’ dimension in discussions around genetics one can identify what Squier refers to as ‘the epistemological value of the imprecise’, which in the case of epigenetics seems to have jeopardized not only the boundaries between genes and their external correlatives, but even challenged the frontiers of traditional disciplinary discourse.