Positional Information and the Measurement of Specificity

Philosophical discussions of information and specificity in biology are now commonplace, but no consensus exists about whether the privileging of genetic causation in investigation and explanation is justified. However, little effort has been expended on understanding practices when scientists exper...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophy of science Vol. 87; no. 5; pp. 1061 - 1072
Main Author Love, Alan C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge The University of Chicago Press 01.12.2020
Cambridge University Press
Subjects
Biologists
Biology
Causality
Causation
Embryogenesis
Embryonic growth stage
Gene expression
Genes
Measurement
Pattern formation
Scrutiny
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Summary:Philosophical discussions of information and specificity in biology are now commonplace, but no consensus exists about whether the privileging of genetic causation in investigation and explanation is justified. However, little effort has been expended on understanding practices when scientists experimentally measure information or causal specificity. An example of this type of practice—measuring positional information in gene expression during pattern formation in embryogenesis—shows that biologists are unconcerned with comparing the amount of information in genes with that of other factors. Instead, they focus on whether the measured causal specificity explains the phenomenon under scrutiny.
ISSN:0031-8248
1539-767X
DOI:10.1086/710617