科学技术哲学学术论坛

2019年第1期  总第171期

报告题目：Multiple Realization in Systems Biology

报 告 人： 方卫     同济大学

时 间： 2019年5月13日16:00-18:00

地 点： 文科楼六层报告厅

方卫，湖南岳阳人， 澳大利亚悉尼大学哲学博士，目前为同济大学人文学院哲学系助理教授，主要研究方向为科学哲学、生物学哲学和形而上学。近年来在Philosophy of Science、Biology and Philosophy、Synthese、Philosophia、《哲学动态》、《自然辩证法研究》、《自然辩证法通讯》、《科学技术哲学研究》等国内外著名学术刊物上发表论文十余篇，主持教育部人文社科基金项目一项。

Abstract: Polger and Shapiro (2016) claim that, unlike artifacts created by craftsmen, cases of multiple realization in naturally occurring systems are uncommon. Based on cases from systems biology, this article argues that cases of multiple realization in naturally occurring systems are not as uncommon as Polger and Shapiro initially thought. The cases from systems biology involve generalizable design principles called network motifs that recur in different organisms and species and perform specific functions. Two network motifs, i.e., negative autoregulation and feed-forward loops, are examined in detail, showing that network motifs with entirely different underlying causal structures can perform the same function of interest. The article also considers the scope problem of multiple realization, namely, are cases of MR in the biological world rare?

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