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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
The biochemist cannot understand what goes on chemically in the organism without considering genes any more than a geneticist can fully appreciate the gene without taking into account what it is and what it does. It is a most unfortunate consequence of human limitations and the inflexible organization of our institutions of higher learning that investigators tend to be forced into laboratories with such labels as “biochemistry” or “genetics.” The gene does not recognize the distinction – we should at least minimize it.
(Beadle 1945b, p. 193)In this chapter, I respond to Wim van der Steen's (1993) arguments against the supposed current overemphasis on norms of coherence and interdisciplinary integration in biology. On the normative level, I argue that these are middle-range norms that – although they may be misapplied in short-term attempts to solve (temporarily?) intractable problems – play a guiding role in the longer-term treatment of biological problems. This stance is supported by a case study of a partial success story, the development of the one-gene – one-enzyme hypothesis. As that case shows, the goal of coherent interdisciplinary integration not only provides guidance for research but also provides the standard for recognizing failed integrations of the sort that van der Steen criticizes.
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is a defense against the challenge of van der Steen (1993) to the view that the norm of unification of knowledge across (biological) disciplines serves, and should serve, as a major vehicle for improving the content of (biological) knowledge.
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