Leyes y modelos en la explicación biológica
Resumen
Laws and models in biological explanation
For years, the controversy over the existence of laws in biology has concerned and confronted philosophers and biologists. Even so, it could be said that biologists have been working without them during the last hundred and fifty years. They have using their time to developed (essentially mathematical) models to express biological facts. Thus, the challenge is to find out how models explain. Alisa Bokulich, in a recent paper called “How scientific models can explain”, analyzes three theoretical approximations to the explanatory capacity of scientific models (Carl Craver’s mechanistic model explanation; Mehmet Elgin and Elliott Sober’s covering-law model explanation, and Ernan McMullin’s causal model explanation) and proposes her own. We study such model, known as model explanation, and use the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium model as an example of what a biological law can be.
Key words: Laws, models, Bokulich, explanation, Hardy-Weinberg model, Sober, mathematical models, Fisher’s sex ratio, model explanation, McMullin.
Texto completo:
PDFReferencias
Beatty, J. (1995), “The evolutionary contingency thesis”, in G. Wolters, and J. G. Lennox, (eds.), Concepts, Theories, and Rationality in the Biological Sciences, The Second Pittsburgh-Konstanz Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 45-81.
Bokulich, A. (2009), “Explanatory fictions,” in M. Suarez (ed.) Fictions in Science: Philosophical Essays on Modeling and Idealization. London: Routledge, pp. 91109.
–– (2011), “How scientific models can explain,” Synthese, 180(1): 33-45.
–– (2012), “Distinguishing explanatory from non-explanatory fictions,” Philosophy of Science 79(5): 725-737.
Cabrero, J. & Camacho, J. P. (2003), “Fundamentos de genética de poblaciones”, en Soler, M. (ed.), Evolución: la base de la biología. Granada: Proyecto Sur de Ediciones, pp. 83-126.
Craver, C. (2006), “When mechanistic models explain,” Synthese 153: 335-376.
Elgin, M. (2006), “There may be strict empirical laws in biology, after all,” Biology and Philosophy 21: 119-134.
Elgin, M. & Sober, E. (2002), “Cartwright on explanation and idealization,” Erkenntnis 57: 441-450.
Fontdevila, A. & Moya, A. (2003), Evolución: Origen, adaptación y divergencia de las especies. Madrid: Síntesis.
Gillespie, J. (2004), Population Genetics: A Concise Guide. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
Iranzo, V. (2011), “Ciencia, modelos, ¿ficciones?”, Teorema XXX/2: 157-173.
Mayr, E. (2004), What Makes Biology Unique. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McMullin, E. (1978), “Structural explanation,” American Philosophical Quarterly 15 (2): 139-147.
–– (1985), “Galilean idealization,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 16: 247-273.
Provine, W. (2001), The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Rosenberg, A. (2006), Darwinian Reductionism or How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ruse, M. (1979), La filosofía de la biología. Madrid: Alianza.
Smart, J. J. C. (1963), Philosophy and Scientific Realism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sober, E. (1984), The Nature of Selection. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. –– (2000), Philosophy of Biology (second edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Suárez, M. (ed.) (2009), Fictions in Science: Philosophical Essays on Modeling and Idealization. London: Routledge.
Templeton, A. (2006), Population Genetics and Microevolutionary Theory. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Enlaces refback
- No hay ningún enlace refback.
Revista semestral editada por el Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Políticos
y Sociales Vicente Lombardo Toledano de la Secretaría de Educación Pública,
la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa y Edicions UIB de la Universitat de les Illes Balears.
Lombardo Toledano 51, Col. Ex-Hda. Guadalupe Chimalistac,
Del. Alvaro Obregón, C.P. 01050, México, D.F.
Tels. (5255) 5661-4679 y 5661-4987
Fax: (5255) 5661-1787