Philosophy and Revolutions in Genetics: Deep Science and Deep Technology

262 Pages·2005·2.138 MB·English

by  Keekok Lee (auth.)

Philosophy and Revolutions in Genetics
Renewing Philosophy
General Editor: Gary Banham
Titles include:
Kyriaki Goudeli
CHALLENGES TO GERMAN IDEALISM
Schelling, Fichte and Kant
Keekok Lee
PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTIONS IN GENETICS
Deep Science and Deep Technology
Jill Marsden
AFTER NIETZSCHE
Celine Surprenant
FREUD’S MASS PSYCHOLOGY
Jim Urpeth
FROM KANT TO DELEUZE
Martin Weatherston
HEIDEGGER’S INTERPRETATION OF KANT
Categories, Imagination and Temporality
Renewing Philosophy 978-0-333-91928-6
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Philosophy and Revolutions
in Genetics
Deep Science and Deep Technology
Keekok Lee
Honorary Chair in Philosophy
Institute for the Environment, Philosophy & Public Policy
University of Lancaster
© Keekok Lee 2003, 2005
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-0-333-96458-3
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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ISBN 978-1-4039-4708-6 ISBN 978-0-230-59902-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230599024
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lee, Keekok, 1938–
Philosophy and revolutions in genetics: deep science and deep technology/
Keekok Lee.
p. cm. – (Renewing philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Genetics–Philosophy. 2. Molecular genetics–Philosophy. 3. Genetic
engineering–Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.
QH438.7.L44 2003
576.5–dc21
2002026950
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface viii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
Notes 3
Chapter 1 Living Organisms: Their Philosophical Transformation
from Natural to Artefactual Beings 4
Artefact 4
Biotic artefact 5
Theses of teleology 8
Degrees of artefacticity 9
Organisms as beings ‘for themselves’ and ‘by themselves’ 12
The ontological shift in status 16
Are living organisms machines? 22
Notes 34
Chapter 2 Philosophy, Modern Science and
Modern Technology 43
Pre-modern philosophy and its science 43
Modern science, its methodology and its philosophy 45
The goals of modern science 51
Episteme, techneand technology 54
Modern science and technology: divergence, then convergence 57
The philosophy of technology and the philosophy of science 63
‘Deep’ theories and their power of control 71
Notes 75
Chapter 3 Biotic Artefacts: Mendelian Genetics
and Hybridisation 83
The first agricultural revolution 83
Mendelian genetics: the science 86
Mendelian genetics: the technology of hybridisation 96
Glossary 106
Notes 107
v
vi Contents
Chapter 4 Biotic Artefacts: Molecular Genetics
and Biotechnology 112
Molecular genetics and molecular biology 112
Molecular genetics: the science 113
Is it protein or nucleic acid? 114
The contribution of x-ray crystallography 119
Biochemical genetics 119
The contribution of the phage group 121
The unified approach 124
Molecular genetics: biotechnology 129
Glossary 138
Notes 142
Chapter 5 Biotechnology and Patentability 145
Modern patent law: a brief account 145
Transgenic organisms 147
How transgenic organisms differ from Mendelian hybrids 148
Patenting and transgenic organisms 149
Depth of manipulation vs extensiveness of manipulation 150
Depth of manipulation is critical 153
Identity of transgenic organisms 154
Technological procedures and their products 155
Genes as raw DNAsequences: are these patentable? 155
Genome projects 156
The scope of the exploration 157
Raw DNAsequences and their patenting so far 158
Raw complete DNAsequences and ESTs are not patentable 159
Distinctions: discovery vs invention, process vs procedure 160
Product of nature and procedures? 161
Misleading analogies and metaphors 162
Discovery and invention 164
Ontological status: structure and function 165
Sulston, ESTs and complete DNA sequences 166
A red herring: Locke’s labour theory of value 169
Lexical ordering of criteria 170
Notes 172
Chapter 6 Homo Faber: The Humanisation of Biotic Nature
and the Naturalisation of Humans 183
Homo faber: the fundamental category of human
agency in modernity 183
The ideology of materialism and scientific naturalism 183
Contents vii
The ideology of idealism 185
The humanisation of biotic nature: the supersession
of natural evolution 189
The naturalisation of humans: humans as biotic artefacts 193
Reproduction and production 199
Notes 202
Conclusion 213
Notes 216
Epilogue 217
Notes 228
References and Select Bibliography 231
Index 247
Series Editor’s Preface
Renewing Philosophyis intended as a space in which various philosophical
projects are tested and their cogency both as assessments of the traditions
of modernity and as revealing contemporary developments are presented.
Keekok Lee’s contribution to this is to provide a new light on the history
and concepts of genetic science.
Within the hundred years since Mendel we have witnessed an explosion
of research. There are a number of confusions attendant upon the
understanding of this domain, not least of which is the general failure
to understand how far the very area of research has been transformed during
this time. It is part of the mission of this book to instruct those working in
the humanities and social sciences in the profound alterations of scientific
theory and practice within the supposedly unitary history of ‘genetics’.
Focusing on revealing to us the basis of scientific theory and practice of
different models of ‘genetics’ is only one aspect of Keekok Lee’s endeavour.
This book also contains a parallel investigation of the types of technology
that have accompanied and transformed the nature of scientific theory.
From the concern with ‘hybrids’ which Darwin shared with Mendel and
whose history in natural philosophy is long, Keekok Lee sketches the devel-
opment of biotechnology and its relation to the notion of a ‘molecular’
genetics. While rejecting many of the current philosophical accounts of
these developments, the nature of them and their consequences for env-
ironmental and legal thought are sharply brought out in Keekok Lee’s
thorough study of the notion of patenting.
This book is unlike many others within this series. It is written by a
veteran author contributing to a novel discipline in a manner which
requires careful exposition and explanation for readers whose familiarity
with many concepts can certainly not be taken for granted. As this aspect
of the work is vital for the communication between natural scientists and
those whose background is solidly in the humanities and social sciences,
the form of presentation of the argument includes elements of pedagogic
attention. These qualities should, however, enable the work to have a
much greater chance of provoking and enabling the development of
responses from within philosophy to an important aspect of the contem-
porary world at present under-theorized by philosophers.
The forceful presentation of an argument in relationship to a vast array
of historical and scientific matters is always difficult for a philosopher, as it
is open to objection from those whose work is more overtly grounded in an
appreciation of ‘facts’. But uncovering the meaning of such ‘facts’ requires
an analysis that supersedes the empirical realm, while basing itself on the
viii
Series Editor’s Preface ix
findings there given. It is this type of practice, a pre-eminent practice
within philosophy, which is provided here.
The revelation of the way in which this most contemporary of scientific
developments has grown out of the Modern Project is a matter of deep
interest to anyone concerned with the legacy of modernity. As such, it is
hoped that this material and this argument will be part of what is weighed
in contemporary discussions not merely of the philosophy of technology
or environmental ethics but also within the circles that are seriously
engaged with a cultural discussion of the limits of the modern and its rela-
tionship to nihilism.
Gary Banham
Series EditorRenewing Philosophy