Systems biology [[electronic resource] ] : philosophical foundations / / edited by Fred C. Boogerd ... [et al.]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910822197403321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Amsterdam ; ; Boston, : Elsevier, 2007
• ISBN: 1-281-00380-8; 9786611003807; 0-08-047527-2
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (361 p.)
• Classificazione: 42.10; CC 3700
• Altri autori (Persone): BoogerdFred C
• Disciplina: 570.11; 571
• Soggetti: Biology - Philosophy; Biological systems; Biological models
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front Cover; Systems Biology; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of Contributors; Contributor Biographies; Preface; SECTION I Introduction; Chapter 1 Towards philosophical foundations of Systems Biology: introduction; 1. SYSTEMS BIOLOGY: A NEW SCIENCE IN SEARCH OF METHODOLOGIES AND PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS; 2. SYSTEMS BIOLOGY; 2.1. History of systems biology; 2.2. What is contemporary systems biology?; 2.3. Approaches to systems biology; 3. TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF SYSTEMS BIOLOGY; 3.1. The philosophy of molecular biology itself needs no further elaboration; 3.2. Philosophers focus on philosophy of evolutionary biology3.3. A philosophy of systems biology is lacking but needed; 4. INTRODUCTION OF A NUMBER OF PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF SYSTEMS BIOLOGY; 4.1. Two types of reductionism; 4.2. A continuum of reductionism to antireductionism; 4.3. Types of explanation; 4.4. Mechanistic explanation; 4.5. Systems biology and models; 4.6. What is life?; 5. AIM AND OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK; REFERENCES; SECTION II Research programs of Systems Biology; Chapter 2 The methodologies ; of systems biology; SUMMARY; 1. THE METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SCIENCES1.1. Physics; 1.2. Biology; 1.3. Biochemistry and molecular biology; 1.4. Cell Biology: The living cell; 2. LIMITATIONS TO THE SCIENTIFIC STATUS OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; 2.1. Inaccuracy; 2.2. Inability to deal with emergence; 2.3. Frustrated aspiration of biochemistry and molecular biology to . . . biology; 2.4. Irreducibility; 2.5. Lack of testability because of undefinedness; 2.6. Lack of experimental accessibility; 2.7. Lack of analysability; 3. RISING ABOVE THE LIMITATIONS; 3.1. Genomics; 3.2. Soon everything will be known . . . : Will biology become physics, at last?3.3. Observing or understanding?; 3.4. Systems biology; 4. TOWARDS A SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY OF SYSTEMS BIOLOGY; 4.1. The goals of systems biology; 4.2. Systems biology: What it is; 4.3. The spiral of knowledge; 4.4. The special role of mathematics in systems biology: Calculating emergence; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; REFERENCES; Chapter 3 Methodology is Philosophy; SUMMARY; 1. INTRODUCTION; 2. FROM MOLECULES TO DIABETES VIA METABOLISM AND SYSTEMIC PHYSIOLOGY; 3. MRS AND MCA FORM A SUCCESSFUL METHODOLOGY FOR SYSTEMS BIOLOGY; 4. CONCLUSIONREFERENCES; Chapter 4 How can we understand metabolism?; SUMMARY; 1. INTRODUCTION; 2. TRADITIONAL PRINCIPLES OF METABOLISM; 3. THE RISE OF SYSTEMS ANALYSIS OF METABOLISM; 4. SHOULD WE EXPECT METABOLISM TO BE UNDERSTANDABLE?; 5. IS SIMULATING CELL METABOLISM THE SAME AS UNDERSTANDING IT?; REFERENCES; Chapter 5 On building reliable pictures with unreliable data: An evolutionary and developmental coda for the new systems biology?; SUMMARY; 1. INTRODUCTION; 2. THE NEW SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AND EVO-DEVO; 3. THE PROBLEM OF DATA RELIABILITY IN THE ANALYSIS OF LARGE SYSTEMS; 4. DATA ERRORS AND MOLAR SYSTEM PROPERTIES
• Sommario/riassunto: Systems biology is a vigorous and expanding discipline, in many ways a successor to genomics and perhaps unprecedented in its combination of biology with a great many other sciences, from physics to ecology, from mathematics to medicine, and from philosophy to chemistry. Studying the philosophical foundations of systems biology may resolve a longer standing issue, i.e., the extent to which Biology is entitled to its own scientific foundations rather than being dominated by existing philosophies.* Answers the question of what distinguishes the living from the non-living* An in-dept