Philosophy and Revolutions in Genetics (eBook)

KEEKOK LEE is currently Visiting Chair in Philosophy at the Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy, Lancaster University. Her research interests include environmental philosophy, philosophy of technology, and the relationship between the environment and technology from the ontological perspective. Published works include The Natural and the Artefactual (1999) and Social Philosophy and Ecological Scarcity (1989).

Cover 1
Contents 6
Series Editor’s Preface 9
Acknowledgements 11
Introduction 12
Notes 14
Chapter 1 Living Organisms: Their Philosophical Transformation from Natural to Artefactual Beings 15
Artefact 15
Biotic artefact 16
Theses of teleology 19
Degrees of artefacticity 20
Organisms as beings ‘for themselves’ and ‘by themselves’ 23
The ontological shift in status 27
Are living organisms machines? 33
Notes 45
Chapter 2 Philosophy, Modern Science and Modern Technology 54
Pre-modern philosophy and its science 54
Modern science, its methodology and its philosophy 56
The goals of modern science 62
Episteme, techne and technology 65
Modern science and technology: divergence, then convergence 68
The philosophy of technology and the philosophy of science 74
‘Deep’ theories and their power of control 82
Notes 86
Chapter 3 Biotic Artefacts: Mendelian Genetics and Hybridisation 94
The first agricultural revolution 94
Mendelian genetics: the science 97
Mendelian genetics: the technology of hybridisation 107
Glossary 117
Notes 118
Chapter 4 Biotic Artefacts: Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology 123
Molecular genetics and molecular biology 123
Molecular genetics: the science 124
Is it protein or nucleic acid? 125
The contribution of x-ray crystallography 130
Biochemical genetics 130
The contribution of the phage group 132
The unified approach 135
Molecular genetics: biotechnology 140
Glossary 149
Notes 153
Chapter 5 Biotechnology and Patentability 156
Modern patent law: a brief account 156
Transgenic organisms 158
How transgenic organisms differ from Mendelian hybrids 159
Patenting and transgenic organisms 160
Depth of manipulation vs extensiveness of manipulation 161
Depth of manipulation is critical 164
Identity of transgenic organisms 165
Technological procedures and their products 166
Genes as raw DNA sequences: are these patentable? 166
Genome projects 167
The scope of the exploration 168
Raw DNA sequences and their patenting so far 169
Raw complete DNA sequences and ESTs are not patentable 170
Distinctions: discovery vs invention, process vs procedure 171
Product of nature and procedures? 172
Misleading analogies and metaphors 173
Discovery and invention 175
Ontological status: structure and function 176
Sulston, ESTs and complete DNA sequences 177
A red herring: Locke’s labour theory of value 180
Lexical ordering of criteria 181
Notes 183
Chapter 6 Homo Faber: The Humanisation of Biotic Nature and the Naturalisation of Humans 194
Homo faber: the fundamental category of humanagency in modernity 194
The ideology of materialism and scientific naturalism 194
The ideology of idealism 196
The humanisation of biotic nature: the supersession of natural evolution 200
The naturalisation of humans: humans as biotic artefacts 204
Reproduction and production 210
Notes 213
Conclusion 224
Notes 227
Epilogue 228
Notes 239
References and Select Bibliography 242
Index 257