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Francis Bacon, Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Modern Experimental BiologyIn Stefano Gattei & Nimrod Bar-Am (eds.), Encouraging Openness: Essays for Joseph Agassi on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday, Springer Verlag. 2017.
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36Why epigenetics is not a vindication of Lamarckism – and why that mattersStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 57 80-82. 2016.
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14Hierarchy, determinism, and specificity in theories of development and evolutionHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4): 33. 2017.The concepts of hierarchical organization, genetic determinism and biological specificity have played a crucial role in biology as a modern experimental science since its beginnings in the nineteenth century. The idea of genetic information and genetic determination was at the basis of molecular biology that developed in the 1940s with macromolecules, viruses and prokaryotes as major objects of research often labelled “reductionist”. However, the concepts have been marginalized or rejected in so…Read more
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29Eric Davidson, his philosophy, and the history of scienceHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4): 31. 2017.Eric Davidson, a passionate molecular developmental biologist and intellectual, believed that conceptual advances in the sciences should be based on knowledge of conceptual history. Convinced of the superiority of a causal-analytical approach over other methods, he succeeded in successfully applying this approach to the complex feature of organismal development by introducing the far-reaching concept of developmental Gene Regulatory Networks. This essay reviews Davidson’s philosophy, his support…Read more
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7Hierarchy, determinism, and specificity in theories of development and evolutionHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4): 33. 2017.The concepts of hierarchical organization, genetic determinism and biological specificity have played a crucial role in biology as a modern experimental science since its beginnings in the nineteenth century. The idea of genetic information and genetic determination was at the basis of molecular biology that developed in the 1940s with macromolecules, viruses and prokaryotes as major objects of research often labelled “reductionist”. However, the concepts have been marginalized or rejected in so…Read more
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27Introduction: Eric Davidson and the molecular biology of evolution and developmentHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 39 (4): 28. 2017.Between November 30th and December 2nd, 2015, the Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva held its Eighth International Workshop under the title “From Genome to Gene: Causality, Synthesis and Evolution”. Eric Davidson, the founder of the concept of developmental Gene Regulatory Networks, had regularly attended the previous meetings, and his participation in this one was expected, but he suddenly passed away 3 mon…Read more
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15Biology and political ideologies: on the futility of scientific justification for political values, now and in the past: Maurizio Meloni: Political biology. Science and social values in human heredity from eugenics to epigenetics. Palgrave MacMillan, 2016, xi+284pp, $105.00 HBMetascience 26 (2): 289-292. 2017.
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8Vertrauensvorschuß und wissenschaftliches Fehlhandeln— Eine reliabilistische Modellierung der Fälle Abderhalden, Goldschmidt, Moewus und Waldschmidt-LeitzBerichte Zur Wissenschafts-Geschichte 27 (3): 187-204. 2004.
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14Genetics in Germany. [Review of: Harwood J, Styles of scientific thought: the German genetics community, 1900-1933. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993]British Journal for the History of Science 29 (1): 83-87. 1996.
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12Emigration, isolation and the slow start of molecular biology in GermanyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 33 (3): 449-471. 2002.
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12Gemmules and Elements: On Darwin’s and Mendel’s Concepts and Methods in HeredityJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 41 (1): 85-112. 2010.Inheritance and variation were a major focus of Charles Darwin’s studies. Small inherited variations were at the core of his theory of organic evolution by means of natural selection. He put forward a developmental theory of heredity (pangenesis) based on the assumption of the existence of material hereditary particles. However, unlike his proposition of natural selection as a new mechanism for evolutionary change, Darwin’s highly speculative and contradictory hypotheses on heredity were unfruit…Read more
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30Chromatin: Its history, current research, and the seminal researchers and their philosophyPerspectives in Biology and Medicine 58 (2): 143-164. 2015.Eukaryotic genomes are packaged into a nucleoprotein complex known as chromatin. The term was introduced in 1879 by German cytologist Walther Flemming. While observing the processes of mitosis in a light microscope, Flemming coined the term to describe the easily stainable threads in the nucleus. He predicted that it would not have a long life: “The word chromatin may serve until its chemical nature is known, and meanwhile stands for that substance in the cell nucleus which is readily stained”. …Read more
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7DedicationPerspectives in Biology and Medicine 58 (2): 141-142. 2015.We dedicate this special section to the memory of Eric H. Davidson, who died on the first of September 2015. Though he had been seriously ill for many years, his death was unexpected and a great shock for us.We dedicate the section, first, to a great scientist who passionately pursued the idea of a mechanistic explanation of development and evolution. Eric was a pioneer in the molecular biology of development and its relationship to evolution. One of the first to suggest a model for gene regulat…Read more
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16Vertrauensvorschuß und wissenschaftliches Fehlhandeln — Eine reliabilistische Modellierung der Fälle Abderhalden, Goldschmidt, Moewus und Waldschmidt-Leitz†Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 27 (3): 187-204. 2004.Reliabilist philosophy of science considers scientific misconduct a transgression against the principles of good cognitive practice. Good practice in research is characterised by the reliability, efficiency and fertility of the cognitive processes involved. The reliabilist approach is closely connected to the idea of mutual cognitive dependency of the research community. Trust in the testimony of others is not an inevitable but a favouring factor of scientific progress — and misconduct damages t…Read more
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33The Concept of the Causal Role of Chromosomes and Genes in Heredity and Development: Opponents from Darwin to LysenkoPerspectives in Biology and Medicine 57 (1): 57-77. 2014.A recent cover of the German news magazine Der Spiegel announced: “Victory over Genes. Smarter, healthier, happier: How we can outwit our genome” (2010). The magazine’s article, instead, emphasizes the importance of epigenetics. According to Florian Maderspacher (2010), who reprinted the cover in his editorial in Current Biology, the relief or “schadenfreude” about the apparent victory over genes—which the cover, the article, and commentaries to it reveal—is, in part, a German phenomenon. It ech…Read more
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19The origin of life: scientific, historical and philosophical perspectiveHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 34 (3): 337-339. 2012.
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41Final Discussion: Issues and Challenges for the FuturePerspectives in Biology and Medicine 55 (4): 608-611. 2012.
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38Final Discussion: Issues and Challenges for the FuturePerspectives in Biology and Medicine 55 (4): 608-611. 2012.
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2Guest Editors' IntroductionJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 41 (1). 2010.
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19Editors' Introduction to Special IssuePerspectives in Biology and Medicine 55 (4): 470-472. 2012.In this second decade of the 21st century, we find the pervasive influence of synthetic biology everywhere, not only in research laboratories, but also in the discourses of politicians and ethicists. Despite its ubiquity, the precise meaning of the notions of "synthetic biology" and "synthetic life," as well as their history, potential, and risks, remain obscure not only to the layperson, but also to most biologists.The aim of this special issue is twofold. First, it is intended to help the read…Read more
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3Special section: Darwinism and scientific practice in historical perspective: Guest editors' introductionJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 41 (1): 55-60. 2010.
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9Early 20th-century research at the interfaces of genetics, development, and evolution: Reflections on progress and dead endsDevelopmental Biology 357 (1): 3-12. 2011.Three early 20th-century attempts at unifying separate areas of biology, in particular development, genetics, physiology, and evolution, are compared in regard to their success and fruitfulness for further research: Jacques Loeb’s reductionist project of unifying approaches by physico-chemical explanations; Richard Goldschmidt’s anti-reductionist attempts to unify by integration; and Sewall Wright’s combination of reductionist research and vision of hierarchical genetic systems. Loeb’s program, …Read more
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33Crystals, Colloids, or Molecules?: Early Controversies about the Origin of Life and Synthetic LifePerspectives in Biology and Medicine 55 (4): 521-542. 2012.In Goethe's Faust, the poet refers to alchemists' widespread ideas on artificial creation of life in the laboratory. In Faust, such an attempt was not successful: the little man,Homunculus, created by the scholar Wagner through crystallization, was a pure spirit; his form and light disappeared in an attempt to become real life. According to Goethe, life was obviously not a crystal, and he pointed to decisive differences between crystals and organic beings, the latter for example elaborating thei…Read more
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4A social activist in genetics (review)Nature 420 (6914): 363. 2002.Reviews the book 'Making Genes, Making Waves: A Social Activist in Science,' by Jon Beckwith.
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Women and Genetics in Germany – Research and Careers until 1950In Rn, Eh & Mv (eds.), Elisabeth Schiemann 1881–1972 Vom AufBruch der Genetik und der Frauen in den UmBrüchen des 20, Basilisken-presse. pp. 26-53. 2014.
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35Michael Polanyi on Scientific Authority and his Criticism of Popper and RussellLeo Baeck Institute Year Book 56 (1): 249-268. 2011.This article analyzes, Polanyi’s notion of authority in science and his criticism of Popper and Russell. It uses the history of early genetics and neo-Darwinism in order to examine the fruitfulness of Polanyi's concepts for an understanding of the history of biology. It discusses the responsibility of scientists in influential positions and shows that scientific authority is – as is criticism – indispensable for progress.
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18Different methods and metaphysics in early molecular genetics - A case of disparity of research?History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 30 (1): 53-78. 2008.The encounter between two fundamentally different approaches in seminal research in molecular biology-the problems, aims, methods and metaphysics - is delineated and analyzed. They are exemplified by the microbiologist Oswald T. Avery who, in line with the reductionist mechanistic metaphysics of Jacques Loeb, attempted to explain basic life phenomena through chemistry; and the theoretical physicist Max Delbrück who, influenced by Bohr’s antimechanistic views, preferred to explain these phenomen…Read more