Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
In this experiment, it was the state of the erythroid cell which
determined the effect of the hormonal stimulation and not the
molecular nature of the hormone.
The study of molecular interactions has therefore completely
upset the causal explanation which contradicts the genetic deter-
minism principle of order from order. We are faced with a paradox:
the macroscopic characteristics of cells are what determine their
organisation and properties at molecular level, not the reverse!
Geneticists introduced the genotype/phenotype dichotomy postu-
lating that the genotype determines the phenotype. It has now
become necessary to evoke the phenotype to explain the action of
the genotype (Kupiec, 2001).
Although all this work was performed by biologists working
under the reductionist paradigm, holism, which denies the basic
foundations of molecular biology, is back with a vengeance. For the
latter to stay theoretically consistent, this contradiction has to be
resolved. As the experimental facts indicate, we need a theory inte-
grating the influence of macroscopic structures. Holism has for a
long time been pushing the importance of this level of organisation
to the fore. In the next chapter we shall analyse whether it can con-
stitute a valid alternative to genetic determinism.
