Genes in Development

by Neumann-Held, Eva M.; Rehmann-sutter, Christoph

• ISBN13: 9780822336679
• ISBN10: 0822336677
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-15
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

In light of scientific advances such as genomics, predictive diagnostics, genetically engineered agriculture, nuclear transfer cloning, and the manipulation of stem cells, the idea that genes carry predetermined molecular programs or blueprints is pervasive. Yet new scientific discoveries-such as rna transcripts of single genes that can lead to the production of different compounds from the same pieces of dna-challenge the concept of the gene alone as the dominant factor in biological development. Increasingly aware of the tension between certain empirical results and interpretations of those results based on the orthodox view of genetic determinism, a growing number of scientists urge a rethinking of what a gene is and how it works. In this collection, a group of internationally renowned scientists present some prominent alternative approaches to understanding the role of dna in the construction and function of biological organisms.Contributors discuss alternatives to the programmatic view of dna, including the developmental systems approach, methodical culturalism, the molecular process concept of the gene, the hermeneutic theory of description, and process structuralist biology. None of the approaches cast doubt on the notion that dna is tremendously important to biological life on earth; rather, contributors examine different ideas of how dna should be represented, evaluated, and explained. Just as ideas about genetic codes have reached far beyond the realm of science, the reconceptualizations of genetic theory in this volume have broad implications for ethics, philosophy, and the social sciences.Contributors. Thomas Buuml;rglin, Brian C. Goodwin, James Griesemer, Paul Griffiths, Jesper Hoffmeyer, Evelyn Fox Keller, Gerd B. Muuml;ller, Eva M. Neumann-Held, Stuart A. Newman, Susan Oyama, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Sahotra Sarkar, Jackie Leach Scully, Gerry Webster, Ulrich Wolf

Table of Contents

Introduction
EVA M. NEUMANN-HELD AND CHRISTOPH REHMANN-SUTTER	1	(14)
I Empirical Approaches
1 Genome Analysis and Developmental Biology: The Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model System
THOMAS R. BÜRGLIN	15	(23)
2 Genes and Form: Inherency in the Evolution of Developmental Mechanisms
STUART A. NEWMAN AND GERD B. MÜLLER	38	(39)
II Looking Back into History
3 From Genes as Determinants to DNA as Resource: Historical Notes on Development and Genetics
SAHOTRA SARKAR	77	(22)
III Theorizing Genes
4 The Origin of Species: A Structuralist Approach
GERRY WEBSTER AND BRIAN C. GOODWIN	99	(36)
5 On the Problem of the Molecular versus the Organismic Approach in Biology
ULRICH WOLF	135	(17)
6 Genes, Development, and Semiosis
JESPER HOFFMEYER	152	(23)
7 The Fearless Vampire Conservator: Philip Kitcher, Genetic Determinism, and the Informational Gene
PAUL E. GRIFFITHS	175	(24)
8 Genetics from an Evolutionary Process Perspective
JAMES GRIESEMER	199	(39)
9 Genes—Causes—Codes: Deciphering DNA's Ontological Privilege
EVA M. NEUMANN-HELD	238	(34)
10 Boundaries and (Constructive) Interaction
SUSAN OYAMA	272	(18)
11 Beyond the Gene but Beneath the Skin
EVELYN FOX KELLER	290	(23)
12 Poiesis and Praxis: Two Modes of Understanding Development
CHRISTOPH REHMANN-SUTTER	313	(24)
IV Social and Ethical Implications
13 Developmental Emergence, Genes, and Responsible Science
BRIAN C. GOODWIN	337	(12)
14 Nothing Like a Gene
JACKIE LEACH SCULLY	349	(16)
Contributors	365	(4)
Index	369