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Generalization and Discovery by Assuming Conserved Mechanisms: Cross-Species Research on Circadian Oscillators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

William Bechtel
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Abstract

In many domains of biology, explanation takes the form of characterizing the mechanism responsible for a particular phenomenon in a specific biological system. How are such explanations generalized? One important strategy assumes conservation of mechanisms through evolutionary descent. But conservation is seldom complete. In the case discussed, the central mechanism for circadian rhythms in animals was first identified in Drosophila and then extended to mammals. Scientists' working assumption that the clock mechanisms would be conserved both yielded important generalizations and served as a heuristic for discovery, especially when significant differences between the insect and mammalian mechanism were identified.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 5 , December 2009 , pp. 762 - 773
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I thank Adele Abrahamsen, Lindley Darden, and members of the University of California, San Diego, Philosophy of Biology Research Group and of the DC History and Philosophy of Biology Discussion Group for very helpful comments and suggestions.

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