Lessons from the Living Cell: The Limits of ReductionismAn elegant call to a new biology that goes beyond reductionism The Human Genome Project is the culmination of a two-centuries-old scientific tradition that takes as its central tenet the principle of reductionism, or the belief that a system can be thoroughly understood when it is reduced to its most fundamental constituent parts. Experimental biologist Stephen Rothman explains that reductionism also has serious, even dangerous, limitations. With the help of fascinating case studies, he takes a clear-eyed look at the social climate in which science is practiced and explores the collective psychology that he fears is leading scientists down a blind alley. Rothman explains why, despite all the hype surrounding the Genome Project, science is still no closer to building a bridge between molecules and reactions at the genetic level and large-scale biological processes. And, ultimately, he makes an eloquent and impassioned argument for a Darwinian-inspired approach to biological research that goes beyond reductionism to embrace living systems in their entirety. |
From inside the book
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... things are made of unseen atoms . This idea was reductionist in three different , though related , ways . First , it proposed that an unseen reality exists beyond surface appearances . Second , it proposed that material objects have an ...
... things differ , all agree . Alexander Pope The conflict between the strong microreductionists and The those who believe that the material substance of living things does not entail everything is well over 100 years old , and many ...
... things weren't this simple . Like cell fractionation , autoradiography proved to be a very complex method with many uncertainties of measurement and inter- pretation of its own . Most important , it turned out that one could not resolve ...
Contents
Beyond the Central Dogma | 1 |
What Is It That Makes Something Living? | 11 |
The Uncertainties | 15 |
Copyright | |
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