Genes, structuring powers and the flow of information in living systems

Biology and Philosophy 29 (3):379-394 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Minimal genetic pre-formationism is defended, in that primacy is ascribed to DNA in the structuring of molecules through molecular codes. This together with the importance of such codes for stability and variation in living systems makes DNA categorically different from other causal factors. It is argued that post-transcriptional and post-translational processing in protein synthesis does not rob DNA of this structuring role. Notions of structuring causal powers that may vary in degree, of arbitrary molecular codes that are more or less realized, of partial templating and of genetic information as a subspecies of mechanistic information are brought in to support this and to rival causal and semantic notions of information. It is concluded that the primacy of genes in their structuring of molecules goes together with parity between genes and non-genetic causal factors in regulation of living systems. This is seen to hold independently of the radical reconceptualization of organism cum environment that has been suggested in developmental systems theory

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Dna, inference, and information.Ulrich E. Stegmann - 2009 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60 (1):1-17.
The extended replicator.Kim Sterelny, Kelly C. Smith & Michael Dickison - 1996 - Biology and Philosophy 11 (3):377-403.
From symbolism to information? – Decoding the Gene code.Frode Kjosavik - 2007 - Biology and Philosophy 22 (3):333-349.
What is a Gene? From molecules to metaphysics.Holmes Rolston - 2006 - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 27 (6):471-497.
Information in biology.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2007 - In David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 103--119.
Replacement of the “genetic program” program.Ronald J. Planer - 2014 - Biology and Philosophy 29 (1):33-53.
Genes, Causation and Intentionality.Marcel Weber - 2005 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27 (3/4):399-411.
The elusive concept of the gene.Petter Portin - 2009 - Hereditas 146 (3):112-117.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-12-12

Downloads
47 (#298,872)

6 months
5 (#246,492)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?