Why Genes are the Center of Molecular Biologists' Attention

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

Genes are at the center of a broad range of biological research. But why? The goal of this project is to answer this question and in doing so (1) improve understanding of the power and limitations of gene-centered research and (2) enhance understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. There are two opposing views about why genes are at the center of attention. Champions contend that genes (or genomes) are the fundamental causal agents that provide the instructions for development and for all subsequent functioning that goes on within the organism. Critics counter that there are no fundamental causal agents within the organism. Attention is focused on genes, they claim, because biologists have swayed by genetic determinism. The proposal is a philosophical investigation of molecular biology and genomics to develop the idea that genes are at the center of attention because they provide an entry point for investigating a broad range of biological processes, not necessarily because genes cause or explain these processes. Advancing this account will entail developing two epistemic themes. The first is that bodies of scientific knowledge, such as molecular biology, are often organized as approaches for investigation rather than theories for generating representations. The second is that scientific approaches, such as the gene-centered approach, yield inherently partial descriptions that represent some aspects of complicated phenomena at the cost of obscuring other aspects. The result will be to construct an account of what genes do in terms of causality, drawing upon abstract philosophical models of causality and causal explanations. It will clarify why genes can be utilized as a tool for investigating a broad variety of processes. It will also delineate limitations of gene-based explanations. These limitations, however, will not necessarily impugn the science since the success of gene-based research rests on its investigative utility regardless of whether the explanations ultimately yielded from this research will be directly based on the impact of genes. The intellectual merit of this research is that it will advance the philosophical understanding of biological knowledge. The research will provide a new explanation of why so much of today's scientific research of what goes on within organisms is gene-centered. This answer will be philosophically informative and scientifically defensible. The research will also provide strong motivation for two important epistemological ideas concerning the nature of scientific knowledge. The results of this research should provide the public with a better basis for assessing the merits of gene-centered research and understanding that despite the successes of gene-centered science, the causal role of genes is often exaggerated by those who publicly promote gene-based research. The two epistemological views concerning the structure of scientific knowledge and its partiality should also make a broad impact because they suggest that the nature of science is often misrepresented in popular accounts of scientific knowledge and in science education. The importance of genomic research is not that it will reveal the blueprint of life, but that it provides a basis for investigating a broad range of biological processes. This project should provide science educators the basic knowledge for presenting a much different and more accurate account of gene-centered biology to science students and the public.