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Reconceptualizations and Interfield Connections: The Discovery of the Link Between Vitamins and Coenzymes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

William Bechtel
William Bechtel*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Georgia State University
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Abstract

The discovery that some B vitamins are constituents of respiratory coenzymes led to the development of an interfield theory of the kind discussed by Darden and Maull (1977). In this paper it is shown that the development of a useful interfield connection was made possible by two reconceptualizations: (1) a re-conceptualization that united two then-distinct fields giving rise to the concept of vitamins as dietary substances; and (2) another reconceptualization that united two approaches to respiratory metabolism producing the idea that coenzymes are transport vehicles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 265 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1984

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Footnotes

†

I thank Adele Abrahamsen, Lindley Darden, Frederic L. Holmes, and an anonymous reviewer for Philosophy of Science for their very helpful comments and suggestions. Work on this paper was supported by a Fellowship for Independent Study and Research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is gratefully acknowledged.

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