“Exemplars, Models and Laws in Biology”

LORENZANO, PABLO

Londres, Gran Bretaña

Conferencia; Conferencia; 2005

London School of Economics

Taking as starting point the analysis of the book by Sinnot, E.W. y L.C. Dunn, Principles of Genetics: An Elementary Text, with Problems (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1925; 2nd ed., 1932; 3rd ed., 1939; with T. Dobzhansky as co-author, 4th ed., 1950; y 5th ed., 1958), which could be considered the first text-book in classical genetics in a kuhnean way, I try to show a) the relevance that the exemplars and models possess in the way that the teaching-learning process takes place, inasmuch as the kind of information contained in them, exceeds the information given by means of the “laws” linguistically articulated and presented in the text, and b) their link to the problematic about the existence of fundamental laws or guide-principles in biology.