Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
the foundations of all contributing disciplines, or are unique foundations required
for this unique discipline? In simpler terms, is systems biology just the combined
application of the above-mentioned disciplines to living systems, or does it have
its own unique foundations and methodology, enabling this science to emerge
from the other disciplines? Answering this question may also resolve a long
standing issue, i.e., the extent to which biology is entitled to its own scientific
foundations rather than being dominated by existing science philosophies such
as that of physics. In this sense, systems biology may be the culmination of
biology.
In contemporary experimental (molecular) biology, philosophy is not an issue.
In broad terms, the aim of molecular biology is to characterize the molecu-
lar constituents of living organisms. Its agenda is noncomplex; it measures the
properties of each component and, in case of molecular cell biology, its local-
ization in the living cell. Although its methods and results are breathtaking and
highly important, they are straightforward and do not require any philosophy
that extends the philosophical foundations of physics (Carnap, 1966). Short
of vitalism, no science denies that living systems consist solely of molecules.
Since molecular biology characterizes all the molecules of these systems, it must
also characterize those living systems themselves, at least according to some
molecular biologists. What else could there be? Hence, what else other than the
Philosophical Foundations of Physics could be needed?
By contrast, systems biology is concerned with the relationship between
molecules and cells; it treats cells as organized, or organizing, molecular systems
having both molecular and cellular properties. It is concerned with how life or
the functional properties thereof that are not yet in the molecules, emerge from
the particular organization of and interactions between its molecular processes.
It uses models to describe particular cells and generalizes over various cell
types and organisms to arrive at new theories of cells as molecular systems. It
is concerned with explaining and predicting cellular behaviour on the basis of
molecular behaviour. It refers to function in ways that would not be permitted
in physics. It addresses an essential minimum complexity exceeding that of any
physical chemical system understood until now. It shies away from reduction
of the system under study to a collection of elementary particles. Indeed, it
seems to violate many of the philosophical foundations of physics, often in ways
unprecedented even by modern physics.
The premise of systems biology is that there is something to be discovered,
i.e. living systems do have functional properties that cannot be discovered and
understood by molecular biology alone; functional properties that are not in
the molecules themselves. Because living systems are composed of nothing
but molecules, this is at least a paradox, and indeed a contradiction to some
molecular biologists. Scientific developments have, however, shown that there
