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44Model OrganismsCambridge University Press. 2020.This Element presents a philosophical exploration of the concept of the 'model organism' in contemporary biology. Thinking about model organisms enables us to examine how living organisms have been brought into the laboratory and used to gain a better understanding of biology, and to explore the research practices, commitments, and norms underlying this understanding. We contend that model organisms are key components of a distinctive way of doing research. We focus on what makes model organisms…Read more
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42How to choose your research organismStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 80 101227. 2020.
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72What distinguishes data from models?European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (2): 22. 2019.I propose a framework that explicates and distinguishes the epistemic roles of data and models within empirical inquiry through consideration of their use in scientific practice. After arguing that Suppes’ characterization of data models falls short in this respect, I discuss a case of data processing within exploratory research in plant phenotyping and use it to highlight the difference between practices aimed to make data usable as evidence and practices aimed to use data to represent a specif…Read more
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16Intellectual directions for History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2019–2023History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 41 (3): 28. 2019.
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103What distinguishes data from models?European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (2): 22. 2019.I propose a framework that explicates and distinguishes the epistemic roles of data and models within empirical inquiry through consideration of their use in scientific practice. After arguing that Suppes’ characterization of data models falls short in this respect, I discuss a case of data processing within exploratory research in plant phenotyping and use it to highlight the difference between practices aimed to make data usable as evidence and practices aimed to use data to represent a specif…Read more
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51‘Extreme’ organisms and the problem of generalization: interpreting the Krogh principleHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 40 (4): 65. 2018.Many biologists appeal to the so-called Krogh principle when justifying their choice of experimental organisms. The principle states that “for a large number of problems there will be some animal of choice, or a few such animals, on which it can be most conveniently studied”. Despite its popularity, the principle is often critiqued for implying unwarranted generalizations from optimal models. We argue that the Krogh principle should be interpreted in relation to the historical and scientific con…Read more
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26Concealment and Discovery: The Role of Information Security in Biomedical Data Re-UseSocial Studies of Science. forthcoming.This paper analyses the role of information security in shaping the dissemination and re-use of biomedical data, as well as the embedding of such data in the material, social and regulatory landscapes of research. We consider the data management practices adopted by two UK-based data linkage infrastructures: the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage, a Welsh databank that facilitates appropriate re-use of health data derived from research and routine medical practice in the region; and the Medic…Read more
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122Re-Thinking Reproducibility as a Criterion for Research QualityResearch in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 36 (B): 129-146. 2018.A heated debate surrounds the significance of reproducibility as an indicator for research quality and reliability, with many commentators linking a "crisis of reproducibility" to the rise of fraudulent, careless and unreliable practices of knowledge production. Through the analysis of discourse and practices across research fields, I point out that reproducibility is not only interpreted in different ways, but also serves a variety of epistemic functions depending on the research at hand. Given…Read more
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70The Time of Data: Timescales of Data Use in the Life SciencesPhilosophy of Science 85 (5): 741-754. 2018.This article considers the temporal dimension of data processing and use and the ways in which it affects the production and interpretation of knowledge claims. I start by distinguishing the time at which data collection, dissemination, and analysis occur from the time in which the phenomena for which data serve as evidence operate. Building on the analysis of two examples of data reuse from modeling and experimental practices in biology, I then argue that Dt affects how researchers select and i…Read more
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41Where health and environment meet: the use of invariant parameters in big data analysisSynthese 198 (Suppl 10): 1-20. 2018.The use of big data to investigate the spread of infectious diseases or the impact of the built environment on human wellbeing goes beyond the realm of traditional approaches to epidemiology, and includes a large variety of data objects produced by research communities with different methods and goals. This paper addresses the conditions under which researchers link, search and interpret such diverse data by focusing on “data mash-ups”—that is the linking of data from epidemiology, biomedicine, …Read more
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52Growing Weed, Producing Knowledge An Epistemic History of Arabidopsis thalianaHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 29 (2). 2007.Arabidopsis is currently the most popular and well-researched model organism in plant biology. This paper documents this plant's rise to scientific fame by focusing on two interrelated aspects of Arabidopsis research. One is the extent to which the material features of the plant have constrained research directions and enabled scientific achievements. The other is the crucial role played by the international community of Arabidopsis researchers in making it possible to grow, distribute and use p…Read more
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56Infrared metaphysics: the elusive ontology of radiation. Part 1Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (3): 477-508. 2005.Hardly any ontological result of modern science is more firmly established than the fact that infrared radiation differs from light only in wavelength; this is part of the modern conception of the continuous spectrum of electromagnetic radiation reaching from radio waves to gamma radiation. Yet, like many such evident truths, the light-infrared unity was an extremely difficult thing to establish. We examine the competing arguments in favour of the unified and pluralistic theories of radiation, a…Read more
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41Understanding in biology: the impure nature of biological knowledgeIn Henk W. De Regt, Sabina Leonelli & Kai Eigner (eds.), Scientific Understanding: Philosophical Perspectives, University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 189--209. 2008.
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21Karen-Sue Taussig: Ordinary Genomes: Science, Citizenship and Genetic Identities Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s10441-012-9150-8 Authors Sabina Leonelli, Department of Sociology and Philosophy, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK Journal Acta Biotheoretica Online ISSN 1572-8358 Print ISSN 0001-5342
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64Classificatory Theory in BiologyBiological Theory 7 (4): 338-345. 2013.Scientific classification has long been recognized as involving a specific style of reasoning and doing research, and as occasionally affecting the development of scientific theories. However, the role played by classificatory activities in generating theories has not been closely investigated within the philosophy of science. I argue that classificatory systems can themselves become a form of theory, which I call classificatory theory, when they come to formalize and express the scientific sign…Read more
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305What’s so special about model organisms?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (2): 313-323. 2011.This paper aims to identify the key characteristics of model organisms that make them a specific type of model within the contemporary life sciences: in particular, we argue that the term “model organism” does not apply to all organisms used for the purposes of experimental research. We explore the differences between experimental and model organisms in terms of their material and epistemic features, and argue that it is essential to distinguish between their representational scope and represent…Read more
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94Re-thinking organisms: The impact of databases on model organism biologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (1): 29-36. 2012.Community databases have become crucial to the collection, ordering and retrieval of data gathered on model organisms, as well as to the ways in which these data are interpreted and used across a range of research contexts. This paper analyses the impact of community databases on research practices in model organism biology by focusing on the history and current use of four community databases: FlyBase, Mouse Genome Informatics, WormBase and The Arabidopsis Information Resource. We discuss the s…Read more
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111Integrating data to acquire new knowledge: Three modes of integration in plant scienceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (4): 503-514. 2013.This paper discusses what it means and what it takes to integrate data in order to acquire new knowledge about biological entities and processes. Maureen O’Malley and Orkun Soyer have pointed to the scientific work involved in data integration as important and distinct from the work required by other forms of integration, such as methodological and explanatory integration, which have been more successful in captivating the attention of philosophers of science. Here I explore what data integratio…Read more
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43Focusing on scientific understandingIn Henk W. De Regt, Sabina Leonelli & Kai Eigner (eds.), Scientific Understanding: Philosophical Perspectives, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2008.
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37Bioethics Authorship in Context: How Trends in Biomedicine Challenge BioethicsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 11 (10). 2011.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 10, Page 22-24, October 2011
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248What Counts as Scientific Data? A Relational FrameworkPhilosophy of Science 82 (5): 810-821. 2015.This paper proposes an account of scientific data that makes sense of recent debates on data-driven and ‘big data’ research, while also building on the history of data production and use particularly within biology. In this view, ‘data’ is a relational category applied to research outputs that are taken, at specific moments of inquiry, to provide evidence for knowledge claims of interest to the researchers involved. They do not have truth-value in and of themselves, nor can they be seen as strai…Read more
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128On the locality of data and claims about phenomenaPhilosophy of Science 76 (5): 737-749. 2009.Bogen and Woodward characterized data as embedded in the context in which they are produced (‘local’) and claims about phenomena as retaining their significance beyond that context (‘nonlocal’). This view does not fit sciences such as biology, which successfully disseminate data via packaging processes that include appropriate labels, vehicles, and human interventions. These processes enhance the evidential scope of data and ensure that claims about phenomena are understood in the same way acros…Read more
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103Data Interpretation in the Digital AgePerspectives on Science 22 (3): 397-417. 2014.Scientific knowledge production is currently affected by the dissemination of data on an unprecedented scale. Technologies for the automated production and sharing of vast amounts of data have changed the way in which data are handled and interpreted in several scientific domains, most notably molecular biology and biomedicine. In these fields, the activity of data gathering has become increasingly technology-driven, with machines such as next generation genome sequencers and mass spectrometers …Read more
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46Introduction: On the Philosophy of Science in Practice (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 44 (2): 259-261. 2013.
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45Symposium issue: Philosophy of biology in Flanders and the netherlandsActa Biotheoretica 53 (2): 55-56. 2005.
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113Introduction: Making sense of data-driven research in the biological and biomedical sciencesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (1): 1-3. 2012.
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34An Epistemology of the Concrete: Twentieth-Century Histories of LifeInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 25 (4): 420-422. 2011.International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume 25, Issue 4, Page 420-422, December 2011
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53Making Organisms Model Human Behavior: Situated Models in North-American Alcohol Research, since 1950Science in Context 27 (3): 485-509. 2014.ArgumentWe examine the criteria used to validate the use of nonhuman organisms in North-American alcohol addiction research from the 1950s to the present day. We argue that this field, where the similarities between behaviors in humans and non-humans are particularly difficult to assess, has addressed questions of model validity by transforming the situatedness of non-human organisms into an experimental tool. We demonstrate that model validity does not hinge on the standardization of one type o…Read more
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