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
- Institución
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- OAI Identificador
- oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/49588
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
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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 |
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openAccess |
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
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Elsevier |
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Elsevier |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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