Name
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
The concept of a mechanism has become a standard proposal for explanations in biology. It has been claimed that mechanistic explanations are appropriate for systems biology, because they occupy a middle ground between strict reductionism and holism. Because of their importance in the field a formal ontological description of mechanisms is desirable. The standard philosophical accounts of mechanisms are often ambiguous and lack the clarity that can be provided by a formal-ontological framework. The goal of this paper is to clarify some of these ambiguities and suggest such a framework for mechanisms. Taking some hints from an "ontology of devices" I suggest as a general approach for this task the introduction of functional kinds and functional parts by which the particular relations between a mechanism and its components can be captured. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2012 | 10.1186/2041-1480-3-S2-S9 | J. Biomedical Semantics |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
bioinformatics,biomedical research | Data science,Ontology,Holism,Data mining,CLARITY,Computer science,Systems biology,Reductionism,Mechanism (philosophy) | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
3 Suppl 2 | S-2 | 2041-1480 |
Citations | PageRank | References |
2 | 0.38 | 4 |
Authors | ||
1 | ||
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johannes Röhl | 1 | 2 | 1.73 |