engleski

Causal Explanation in Molecular Biology

In this paper, I examine the causal explanation, a leading account of explanation in special sciences such as molecular biology. I focus on the background philosophical concepts surrounding the account, i.e., the concepts of mechanism, causation, and explanation. Within the causal explanation framework, I emphasize the new mechanistic account that highlights mechanisms as causal structures explaining biological phenomena. I also outline alternative causal structures found in molecular biology, such as pathways, and examine their specific relationship with mechanisms. Moreover, I consider the application of those causal structures in molecular biology. In particular, I outline the possibility of using such structures as targets for cancer treatment purposes. In that sense, I examine one of the most centrally situated pathways in metabolism, namely glycolysis, discovered, among others, by German biochemist Otto Meyerhof, and Polish biochemist Jakub Karlo Parnas. Glycolysis is used by cancer cells as their ‘fuel’ at a much higher rate than in normal cells. Thus, intervening in the glycolytic pathway is a tool used for cancer treatment purposes to prevent cancer cells growth.

Causal explanation ; mechanism ; pathway ; cancer treatment program

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