The emergence of the postgenomic gene

Francesca Bellazzi

doi:10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0

The emergence of the postgenomic gene

Francesca Bellazzi^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

36 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The identity and the existence of genes has been challenged by postgenomic discoveries. Specifically, the consideration of molecular and cellular phenomena in which genes are embedded has proved relevant for their understanding. In response to these challenges, I will argue that the complexity of genetic phenomena supports the weak emergence of genes from the DNA. In Section 2, I will expose what genes are taken to be in the postgenomic world. In Section 3, I will present the relevant account of emergence. I consider weak emergence as in Franklin and Knox (Studies for the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 64, 68–78, 2018), for which a phenomenon is emergent when it displays novelty and robustness. In Section 4, I will argue that genes are weakly emergent since they are novel, improving explanations, and robust in respect to some perturbations. Then, I will conclude in Section 5 that genes’ emergence is a way to allow genes’ flexibility and context dependency, without compromising their existence.

Original language	English
Article number	17
Number of pages	21
Journal	European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0
Publication status	Published - 15 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project ?The Metaphysical Unity of Science?, grant no. 771509. I would like to thank Tuomas Tahko, Samir Okasha and Elle Chilton-Knight for reading and reviewing multiple versions of this paper. I am sincerely grateful to Maurizio Zuccotti and his team for having discussed with me the main content of the paper and for the insightful discussions. Thanks also to Giacomo Zanotti, Toby Friend, Vanessa Seifert, Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Alexander Franklin, Dora Bonini, Annalisa Costella, Margarida Hermida and the audiences where I have presented the main ideas of the paper for their helpful comments and suggestions. Lastly, I would like to thank deeply the editors and reviewers for their help in clarifying the paper.

Funding Information:
This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project “The Metaphysical Unity of Science”, grant no. 771509.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

Postgenomic genes
Emergence
Robustness

Access to Document

10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0

Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Springer at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 594 KBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link

Embargoed Document

Full-text PDF (author accepted manuscript)
Accepted author manuscript, 426 KB
Licence: Unspecified
Request copy

MetaScience: The Metaphysical Unity of Science
Tahko, T. (Principal Investigator), Seifert, V. A. (Researcher), Friend, T. T. (Researcher), Kimpton-Nye, S. (Researcher), Bellazzi, F. (Student), Franklin, A. (Other ) & Morgan, W. H. (Researcher)
1/09/18 → 31/08/23
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{56da83107ff54070aaa76c5fa5036f6b,

title = "The emergence of the postgenomic gene",

abstract = "The identity and the existence of genes has been challenged by postgenomic discoveries. Specifically, the consideration of molecular and cellular phenomena in which genes are embedded has proved relevant for their understanding. In response to these challenges, I will argue that the complexity of genetic phenomena supports the weak emergence of genes from the DNA. In Section 2, I will expose what genes are taken to be in the postgenomic world. In Section 3, I will present the relevant account of emergence. I consider weak emergence as in Franklin and Knox (Studies for the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 64, 68–78, 2018), for which a phenomenon is emergent when it displays novelty and robustness. In Section 4, I will argue that genes are weakly emergent since they are novel, improving explanations, and robust in respect to some perturbations. Then, I will conclude in Section 5 that genes{\textquoteright} emergence is a way to allow genes{\textquoteright} flexibility and context dependency, without compromising their existence.",

keywords = "Postgenomic genes, Emergence, Robustness",

author = "Francesca Bellazzi",

note = "Funding Information: This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project ?The Metaphysical Unity of Science?, grant no. 771509. I would like to thank Tuomas Tahko, Samir Okasha and Elle Chilton-Knight for reading and reviewing multiple versions of this paper. I am sincerely grateful to Maurizio Zuccotti and his team for having discussed with me the main content of the paper and for the insightful discussions. Thanks also to Giacomo Zanotti, Toby Friend, Vanessa Seifert, Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Alexander Franklin, Dora Bonini, Annalisa Costella, Margarida Hermida and the audiences where I have presented the main ideas of the paper for their helpful comments and suggestions. Lastly, I would like to thank deeply the editors and reviewers for their help in clarifying the paper. Funding Information: This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project “The Metaphysical Unity of Science”, grant no. 771509. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

journal = "European Journal for Philosophy of Science",

issn = "1879-4912",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The emergence of the postgenomic gene

AU - Bellazzi, Francesca

N1 - Funding Information: This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project ?The Metaphysical Unity of Science?, grant no. 771509. I would like to thank Tuomas Tahko, Samir Okasha and Elle Chilton-Knight for reading and reviewing multiple versions of this paper. I am sincerely grateful to Maurizio Zuccotti and his team for having discussed with me the main content of the paper and for the insightful discussions. Thanks also to Giacomo Zanotti, Toby Friend, Vanessa Seifert, Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Alexander Franklin, Dora Bonini, Annalisa Costella, Margarida Hermida and the audiences where I have presented the main ideas of the paper for their helpful comments and suggestions. Lastly, I would like to thank deeply the editors and reviewers for their help in clarifying the paper. Funding Information: This paper was supported by the European Research Council Project “The Metaphysical Unity of Science”, grant no. 771509. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/2/15

Y1 - 2022/2/15

N2 - The identity and the existence of genes has been challenged by postgenomic discoveries. Specifically, the consideration of molecular and cellular phenomena in which genes are embedded has proved relevant for their understanding. In response to these challenges, I will argue that the complexity of genetic phenomena supports the weak emergence of genes from the DNA. In Section 2, I will expose what genes are taken to be in the postgenomic world. In Section 3, I will present the relevant account of emergence. I consider weak emergence as in Franklin and Knox (Studies for the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 64, 68–78, 2018), for which a phenomenon is emergent when it displays novelty and robustness. In Section 4, I will argue that genes are weakly emergent since they are novel, improving explanations, and robust in respect to some perturbations. Then, I will conclude in Section 5 that genes’ emergence is a way to allow genes’ flexibility and context dependency, without compromising their existence.

AB - The identity and the existence of genes has been challenged by postgenomic discoveries. Specifically, the consideration of molecular and cellular phenomena in which genes are embedded has proved relevant for their understanding. In response to these challenges, I will argue that the complexity of genetic phenomena supports the weak emergence of genes from the DNA. In Section 2, I will expose what genes are taken to be in the postgenomic world. In Section 3, I will present the relevant account of emergence. I consider weak emergence as in Franklin and Knox (Studies for the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 64, 68–78, 2018), for which a phenomenon is emergent when it displays novelty and robustness. In Section 4, I will argue that genes are weakly emergent since they are novel, improving explanations, and robust in respect to some perturbations. Then, I will conclude in Section 5 that genes’ emergence is a way to allow genes’ flexibility and context dependency, without compromising their existence.

KW - Postgenomic genes

KW - Emergence

KW - Robustness

U2 - 10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0

DO - 10.1007/s13194-022-00446-0

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 35222747

SN - 1879-4912

VL - 12

JO - European Journal for Philosophy of Science

JF - European Journal for Philosophy of Science

IS - 1

M1 - 17

ER -

The emergence of the postgenomic gene

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Projects

MetaScience: The Metaphysical Unity of Science

Cite this