Preparations, models, and simulations

• Published in: History and philosophy of the life sciences Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 321 - 334
• Main Author: Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer 01.01.2015; Springer International Publishing
• Subjects: Biological Science Disciplines - history; Computer Simulation - history; Education; History of medicine and histology; History of Science; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Life Sciences; Models, Biological; Original Paper; Philosophy; Philosophy of Biology; Philosophy of Science; Specimen Handling - history; Simulations; Structure–function; Models; Preparations; Virtual experimentation
• ISSN: 0391-9714; 1742-6316
• DOI: 10.1007/s40656-014-0049-3

This paper proposes an outline for a typology of the different forms that scientific objects can take in the life sciences. The first section discusses preparations (or specimens)—a form of scientific object that accompanied the development of modern biology in different guises from the seventeenth century to the present: as anatomical-morphological specimens, as microscopic cuts, and as biochemical preparations. In the second section, the characteristics of models in biology are discussed. They became prominent from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. Some remarks on the role of simulations—characterising the life sciences of the turn from the twentieth to the twenty-first century—conclude the paper.