&HPS3

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/26063

Integrated History and Philosophy of Science: Third Conference

23–26 September, 2010

Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University at Bloomington, USA

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Browsing &HPS3 by Author "Grant Ramsay"

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    Philosophy of stem cell biology: an integrated approach
    (2010) Melinda Fagan; mel.fagan@utah.edu; Grant Ramsay
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    Resolving a Controversy: The Non-Classical Ion Debate
    (2010) William Goodwin; wgoodwin@usf.edu; Grant Ramsay
    This paper examines a scientific controversy that raged for twenty years in physical organic chemistry during the second half of the twentieth century. After explaining what was at stake in the Non-Classical Ion Debate, I attempt—by examining the methodological reflections of some of the participants—a partial explanation of why this debate was so difficult to resolve. Instead of suggesting a breakdown of scientific method or the futility of appeals to evidence, the endurance of this controversy instead reveals the heuristic character of many of the explanations and predictions generated by theoretical organic chemistry. The results in this case are used to suggest a new role for the study of scientific controversies in revealing the economics of inquiry in scientific fields.
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    The referential convergence of gene concepts based on classical and molecular analyses
    (2010) Tudor Baetu; tudor-mihai.baetu@uqtr.ca; Grant Ramsay
    Kenneth Waters and Marcel Weber argue that the joint use of distinct gene concepts and the transfer of knowledge between classical and molecular analyses in contemporary scientific practice is possible because classical and molecular concepts of the gene refer to overlapping chromosomal segments and the DNA sequences associated with these segments. However, while pointing in the direction of coreference, both authors also agree that there is a considerable divergence between the actual sequences that count as genes in classical genetics and molecular biology. The thesis advanced in this paper is that the referents of classical and molecular gene concepts are coextensive to a higher degree than admitted by Waters and Weber, and therefore coreference can provide a satisfactory account of the high level of integration between classical genetics and molecular biology. In particular, I argue that the functional units/cistrons identified by classical techniques overlap with functional elements entering the composition of molecular transcription units, and that the precision of this overlap can be improved by conducting further experimentation.