Generative models: Human embryonic stem cells and multiple modeling relations |
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Authors: | Melinda Bonnie Fagan |
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Institution: | Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, United States;Department of Philosophy and Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320, USA;Université Paris-Sorbonne, SND, Paris, France;Indiana University, United States;University of Toronto, Canada;The W. Maurice Young Center for Applied Ethics, 227-6356 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada;IHPST (CNRS/Université Paris 1 Sorbonne), 13 rue du Four, 7506 Paris, France |
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Abstract: | Model organisms are at once scientific models and concrete living things. It is widely assumed by philosophers of science that (1) model organisms function much like other kinds of models, and (2) that insofar as their scientific role is distinctive, it is in virtue of representing a wide range of biological species and providing a basis for generalizations about those targets. This paper uses the case of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to challenge both assumptions. I first argue that hESC can be considered model organisms, analogous to classic examples such as Escherichia coli and Drosophila melanogaster. I then discuss four contrasts between the epistemic role of hESC in practice, and the assumptions about model organisms noted above. These contrasts motivate an alternative view of model organisms as a network of systems related constructively and developmentally to one another. I conclude by relating this result to other accounts of model organisms in recent philosophy of science. |
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Keywords: | Model organisms Human embryonic stem cells Representation Generalization Extrapolation Modeling |
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