"Reductionism and the Reduction of Mendelian Genetics"

对于科学理论可以被视为一组句子的观点，生物学哲学家是最直言不讳的批评者之一。他们中的许多人采取了一种对立的观点，即理论的语义观，认为理论应该被视为抽象模型的集合。生物学哲学家也对孟德尔遗传学被分子生物学削弱的观点提出了质疑。这些反还原论的论点几乎总是通过把理论当作句子的集合来发展的。沃特斯博士在这项研究经费的资助下，将发展一项姗姗来迟的工作：一种基于理论语义观的理论还原的新概念。这种关于减少的新概念将基于这样一种观点，即减少需要提供更深层次的解释，但不一定是更简单的解释。沃特斯博士将利用这个新概念来展示孟德尔遗传学是如何被分子理论所削弱的。因此，这个项目需要从语义学的角度明确地提出孟德尔和分子遗传学理论的新描述，发展理论还原的新概念，传播对遗传学还原论的长期反对意见，并应用这些结果来展示分子生物学如何改善和深化我们对孟德尔遗传学的理解。

Philosophers of biology are among the most vocal critics of the view that scientific theories can be treated as sets of sentences. Many of them have taken up a rival view, the semantic view of theories, which holds that theories should be treated as collections of abstract models. Philosophers of biology have also challenged the idea that Mendelian genetics is being reduced by molecular biology. These anti-reductionist arguments are nearly always developed by treating theories as sets of sentences. Dr. Waters, under this research grant, will develop what is long overdue: a new conception of theoretical reduction based on the semantic view of theories. This new conception of reduction will be based on the idea that reducing entails providing deeper, but not necessarily simpler explanations. Dr. Waters will use this new conception to show how Mendelian genetics is being reduced by molecular theory. Thus, this project entails presenting new accounts of the theories of Mendelian and molecular genetics explicitly in terms of the semantic view, developing a new conception of theoretical reduction, diffusing standing objections to reductionism about genetics, and applying these results to show how molecular biology is improving and deepening our understanding of Mendelian genetics.