Reduction in Genetics—Biology or Philosophy?
- 1 December 1972
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Philosophy of Science
- Vol. 39 (4) , 491-499
- https://doi.org/10.1086/288470
Abstract
A belief common among philosophers and biologists alike is that Mendelian genetics has been or is in the process of being reduced to molecular genetics, in the sense of formal theory reduction current in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to show that there are numerous empirical and conceptual difficulties which stand in the way of establishing a systematic inferential relation between Mendelian and molecular genetics. These difficulties, however, have little to do with the traditional objections which have been raised to reduction.Keywords
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