Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism

Autores
Alleva, Karina Edith; Diez, Jose Antonio; Federico, Lucía
Año de publicación
2017
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
From the perspective of the new mechanistic philosophy, it has been argued that explanatory causal mechanisms in some special sciences such as biochemistry and neurobiology cannot be captured by any useful notion of theory, or at least by any standard notion. The goal of this paper is to show that a model-theoretic notion of theory, and in particular the structuralist notion of a theory-net already applied to other unified explanatory theories, adequately suits the MWC allosteric mechanism explanatory set-up. We also argue, contra some mechanistic claims questioning the use of laws in biological explanations, that the theory reconstructed in this way essentially contains non-accidental regularities that qualify as laws, and that taking into account these lawful components, it is possible to explicate the unified character of the theory. Finally, we argue that, contrary to what some mechanists also claim, functional explanations that do not fully specify the mechanistic structure are not defective or incomplete in any relevant sense, and that functional components are perfectly explanatory. The conclusion is that, as some authors have emphasized in other fields (Walmsley 2008), particular elements of traditional approaches do not contradict but rather complement the new mechanist philosophy, and taken together they may offer a more complete understanding of special sciences and the variety of explanations they provide.
Fil: Alleva, Karina Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas ; Argentina
Fil: Diez, Jose Antonio. Universidad de Barcelona; España
Fil: Federico, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina
Materia
Allosterism
Explanation
Mechanisms
Monod
Structuralism
Theory-Nets
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/49588

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spelling Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterismAlleva, Karina EdithDiez, Jose AntonioFederico, LucíaAllosterismExplanationMechanismsMonodStructuralismTheory-Netshttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6From the perspective of the new mechanistic philosophy, it has been argued that explanatory causal mechanisms in some special sciences such as biochemistry and neurobiology cannot be captured by any useful notion of theory, or at least by any standard notion. The goal of this paper is to show that a model-theoretic notion of theory, and in particular the structuralist notion of a theory-net already applied to other unified explanatory theories, adequately suits the MWC allosteric mechanism explanatory set-up. We also argue, contra some mechanistic claims questioning the use of laws in biological explanations, that the theory reconstructed in this way essentially contains non-accidental regularities that qualify as laws, and that taking into account these lawful components, it is possible to explicate the unified character of the theory. Finally, we argue that, contrary to what some mechanists also claim, functional explanations that do not fully specify the mechanistic structure are not defective or incomplete in any relevant sense, and that functional components are perfectly explanatory. The conclusion is that, as some authors have emphasized in other fields (Walmsley 2008), particular elements of traditional approaches do not contradict but rather complement the new mechanist philosophy, and taken together they may offer a more complete understanding of special sciences and the variety of explanations they provide.Fil: Alleva, Karina Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Diez, Jose Antonio. Universidad de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Federico, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaElsevier2017-06info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/49588Alleva, Karina Edith; Diez, Jose Antonio; Federico, Lucía; Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism; Elsevier; Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; 63; 6-2017; 1-141369-8486CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848617300328info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.03.004info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:45:18Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/49588instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:45:18.621CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
title Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
spellingShingle Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
Alleva, Karina Edith
Allosterism
Explanation
Mechanisms
Monod
Structuralism
Theory-Nets
title_short Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
title_full Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
title_fullStr Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
title_full_unstemmed Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
title_sort Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Alleva, Karina Edith
Diez, Jose Antonio
Federico, Lucía
author Alleva, Karina Edith
author_facet Alleva, Karina Edith
Diez, Jose Antonio
Federico, Lucía
author_role author
author2 Diez, Jose Antonio
Federico, Lucía
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Allosterism
Explanation
Mechanisms
Monod
Structuralism
Theory-Nets
topic Allosterism
Explanation
Mechanisms
Monod
Structuralism
Theory-Nets
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv From the perspective of the new mechanistic philosophy, it has been argued that explanatory causal mechanisms in some special sciences such as biochemistry and neurobiology cannot be captured by any useful notion of theory, or at least by any standard notion. The goal of this paper is to show that a model-theoretic notion of theory, and in particular the structuralist notion of a theory-net already applied to other unified explanatory theories, adequately suits the MWC allosteric mechanism explanatory set-up. We also argue, contra some mechanistic claims questioning the use of laws in biological explanations, that the theory reconstructed in this way essentially contains non-accidental regularities that qualify as laws, and that taking into account these lawful components, it is possible to explicate the unified character of the theory. Finally, we argue that, contrary to what some mechanists also claim, functional explanations that do not fully specify the mechanistic structure are not defective or incomplete in any relevant sense, and that functional components are perfectly explanatory. The conclusion is that, as some authors have emphasized in other fields (Walmsley 2008), particular elements of traditional approaches do not contradict but rather complement the new mechanist philosophy, and taken together they may offer a more complete understanding of special sciences and the variety of explanations they provide.
Fil: Alleva, Karina Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas ; Argentina
Fil: Diez, Jose Antonio. Universidad de Barcelona; España
Fil: Federico, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina
description From the perspective of the new mechanistic philosophy, it has been argued that explanatory causal mechanisms in some special sciences such as biochemistry and neurobiology cannot be captured by any useful notion of theory, or at least by any standard notion. The goal of this paper is to show that a model-theoretic notion of theory, and in particular the structuralist notion of a theory-net already applied to other unified explanatory theories, adequately suits the MWC allosteric mechanism explanatory set-up. We also argue, contra some mechanistic claims questioning the use of laws in biological explanations, that the theory reconstructed in this way essentially contains non-accidental regularities that qualify as laws, and that taking into account these lawful components, it is possible to explicate the unified character of the theory. Finally, we argue that, contrary to what some mechanists also claim, functional explanations that do not fully specify the mechanistic structure are not defective or incomplete in any relevant sense, and that functional components are perfectly explanatory. The conclusion is that, as some authors have emphasized in other fields (Walmsley 2008), particular elements of traditional approaches do not contradict but rather complement the new mechanist philosophy, and taken together they may offer a more complete understanding of special sciences and the variety of explanations they provide.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-06
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/49588
Alleva, Karina Edith; Diez, Jose Antonio; Federico, Lucía; Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism; Elsevier; Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; 63; 6-2017; 1-14
1369-8486
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/49588
identifier_str_mv Alleva, Karina Edith; Diez, Jose Antonio; Federico, Lucía; Models, theory structure and mechanisms in biochemistry: The case of allosterism; Elsevier; Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; 63; 6-2017; 1-14
1369-8486
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848617300328
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.03.004
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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