engleski

Molecular Biology Origins: Max Delbrück's Complementarity Approach and the Reductionism Debate

In this paper, I examine the origins of molecular biology (henceforth MB) by addressing the following two points: (i) Max Delbrück and his conceptual and experimental importance for MB origins, and (ii) Delbrück’s complementarity approach and, in particular, its anti-reductive interpretation. In (i) I examine Delbrück’s migration from physics to biology, and thus his impact in the development of MB. I emphasize his role as the central figure of “The Phage Group”, that is, an informal group of scientists that used bacteriophages as experimental models to examine the origin and heredity of life. Delbrück and “The Phage Group” had an enormous impact in the development of MB that culminated with the shared 1969 Nobel prize for the discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses. In (ii) I examine Delbrück’s complementarity approach towards biological explanations. Complementarity in biology indicates that biological phenomena may require the use of mutually exclusive descriptions yet jointly necessary for understanding life processes. I explore Delbrück’s complementarity approach in the literature, in particular the clash between the reductive and anti-reductive interpretations on Delbrück’s complementarity approach. I argue for the latter interpretation by suggesting that Delbrück advanced an anti-reductive view on the level of explaining biological phenomena (from explanatory point of view). Moreover, I address the complementarity approach in light of the anti- reductive interpretation in the recent developments in MB, particularly, the potentiality of finding the complementarity approach present in systems biology and epigenetics.

Delbrück ; The Phage Group ; Complementarity ; Reductionism

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