Philosophy of Developmental Biology

Abstract

The history of developmental biology is interwoven with debates as to whether mechanistic explanations of development are possible or whether alternative explanatory principles or even vital forces need to be assumed. In particular, the demonstrated ability of embryonic cells to tune their developmental fate precisely to their relative position and the overall size of the embryo was once thought to be inexplicable in mechanistic terms. Taking a causal perspective, this Element examines to what extent and how developmental biology, having turned molecular about four decades ago, has been able to meet the vitalist challenge. It focuses not only on the nature of explanations but also on the usefulness of causal knowledge – including the knowledge of classical experimental embryology – for further scientific discovery. It also shows how this causal perspective allows us to understand the nature and significance of some key concepts, including organizer, signal and morphogen. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Coherent causal control: a new distinction within causation

“…The former designates a cause that actually varies, for example, between the individuals in a population and that fully or partially accounts for variation in the effect variable. Some of the examples discussed here may satisfy these requirements, in particular the morphogens if their action is construed in accordance with idealized models (Weber, 2022). However, some standard examples of actual-difference making causes are not CCVs.…”

“…The processes of embryonic pattern formation in which morphogens function exhibit a remarkable precision and robustness, generating the same pattern irrespectively of the size of the embryo and even when the developmental process is externally disturbed. According to current thinking in developmental biology it is the self-regulating nature of these gradients that arises from complex dynamic interactions between numerous factors that is responsible for the robustness of pattern formation (Weber, 2022). In any case, it is clear that morphogens have an effect on the gene expression patterns of embryonic cells.…”

“…Such distinctions This article belongs to the Topical Collection: EPSA21: Selected papers from the biennial conference in Turin Guest Editors: A.C. Love, C. Marchionni, M. Redei, J. Williamson are thought to be important in order to make sense of the scientific practice of causal selection. This term designates the process of singling out, from the totality of conditions that jointly cause a phenomenon, such causal variables or levels that have explanatory relevance (e.g., Waters, 2007;Woodward, 2010;Ross, 2018, forthcoming;Baxter, 2019;Lean, 2020;Gebharter & Eronen, 2021;Weber, 2022). The basic premise of this debate is that all causal relations are not alike.…”

“…Other purposes may include practical ones such as medical intervention (Ross forthcoming) or heuristic utility for further research(Weber, 2022). 2 I have published a version of this intuitive account elsewhere(Weber, 2022).…”

“…Other purposes may include practical ones such as medical intervention (Ross forthcoming) or heuristic utility for further research(Weber, 2022). 2 I have published a version of this intuitive account elsewhere(Weber, 2022). The purpose of the present paper is to provide a more formal definition and to examine the relation to other distinctions within causation and to some cognate notions that have been proposed.…”