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Information in Genetics and Developmental Biology: Comments on Maynard Smith

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Sahotra Sarkar
Sahotra Sarkar*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin
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Extract

Maynard Smith notes that he provides a natural history and not a philosophical analysis of the use of concepts of information in contemporary biology. Just a natural history, however rich, would do little to resolve the ongoing controversy about the role of these concepts in biology. None of the disputants deny that the biological use of these concepts is pervasive. The dispute is about whether these concepts—and the framework in which they are embedded—continue to be of explanatory value in contemporary biology. Fortunately, Maynard Smith does much more than provide a natural history: his contribution is also a sustained attempt to justify many (though not all) of the uses of information in biology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , June 2000 , pp. 208 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712–1180.

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