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Fashioning Descriptive Models in Biology: Of Worms and Wiring Diagrams

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Rachel A. Ankeny
Rachel A. Ankeny*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Unit for History and Philosophy of Science, Carslaw F07, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The biological sciences have become increasingly reliant on so-called ‘model organisms’. I argue that in this domain, the concept of a descriptive model is essential for understanding scientific practice. Using a case study, I show how such a model was formulated in a preexplanatory context for subsequent use as a prototype from which explanations ultimately may be generated both within the immediate domain of the original model and in additional, related domains. To develop this concept of a descriptive model, I focus on use of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and the wiring diagrams that were developed as models of its neural structure. In addition, implications of the concept of a descriptive model, particularly its relevance for the data-phenomena distinction as well as its relation to long-standing debates on realism, are briefly examined.

Type
Philosophy of Biology, Psychology, and Neuroscience
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Sep., 2000 , 2000 , pp. S260 - S272
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

An earlier version of this paper appeared as a section of my dissertation (Ankeny 1997), and I am grateful to members of my committee, especially Jim Lennox, John Earman, and Ken Schaffner, for feedback. Attendees at talks given in 1998 at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, the Department of Philosophy at University of Notre Dame, and the Philosophy of Science Association Biennial Meeting also provided helpful comments. Finally, numerous scientists in the C. elegans community have been invaluable, particularly for their willingness to provide unpublished materials and participate in interviews. Research for this project was funded in part by a dissertation grant from the Science and Technology Studies Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF 9617211).

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