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The Chromosome Theory of Mendelian Inheritance: Explanation and Realism in Theory Construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Marga Vicedo
Marga Vicedo*
Affiliation:
Universitat de València
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Cytogenetics was born of the confluence of two so-far independent fields: cytological studies and breeding studies, which merged through the identification of genes with chromosomes. In this paper I argue that genes were introduced as functional entities. Functional explanations are presented here as a subclass of inferences to the best explanation and I argue that abductive arguments do not offer conclusive proof for the existence of the entities postulated through them. However, functional explanations usually follow a scheme laid out by Fodor (1968): there is a first phase where hypothetical entities are postulated and individuated through their effects; there is a second phase where the physical structures responsible for these effects are sought. I analyze the development of both phases in the construction of the chromosome theory of Mendelian inheritance. I will argue that first-phase theories are important to set conditions of identification for the functions played by a certain structure in a given containing system.

Type
Part III. Biology
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1990 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1990 , 1990 , pp. 179 - 191
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1990

Footnotes

1

I want to thank Elliott Sober for discussions that helped me see what realism and explanations could be, and to Bas C. van Fraassen for help to understand what they could be not. I gratefully acknowledge a Fulbright/MEC grant that allowed me to do research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Princeton University during 1989.

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