&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

Browse

Browsing &HPS3 by Subject "modern"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dirac’s “fine-tuning problem”: A constructive use of anachronism?
    (2010) Kent Staley; staleykw@gmail.com; Amit Hagar
    In order to shed light on contemporary arguments about "fine-tuning" in cosmology, I examine a possible historical precedent for fine-tuning from the early years of Quantum Electrodynamics: the divergent self-energy of the electron in Dirac's theory. I argue that viewing this problem as a fine-tuning problem involves an anachronistic reconstruction, but that such reconstructions can be philosophically useful so long as they are not confused with real historical understanding. I relate how, historically, this problem really was conceived, and show how one important step toward its solution drew upon an interpretation of Dirac's formalism in terms of "hole theory." In light of the subsequent demise of hole theory, I argue that my anachronistic reconstruction can serve as a cautionary tale that should considerably weaken the conclusions that might otherwise be drawn from attempts to give theistic or multiverse solutions to cosmological fine-tuning problems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    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.