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Making Populations: Bounding Genes in Space and in Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Lisa Gannett
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Abstract

At least below the level of species, biological populations are not mind-independent objects that scientists discover. Rather, biological populations are pragmatically constructed as objects of investigation according to the aims, interests, and values that inform particular research contexts. The relations among organisms that are constitutive of population-level phenomena (e.g., mating propensity, genealogy, and competition) occur as matters of degree and so give rise to statistically defined open-ended biological systems. These systems are rendered discrete units to satisfy practical needs and theoretical preferences associated with specific contexts of investigation. While it may be possible to defend a realist position regarding biological relations among organisms, biological populations are “made” when contextual features determine which kinds and degrees of relations to privilege over others, and so how to bound genes in space and time. Consequently, the objectivity of population-based approaches to species genome diversity cannot rest in the mind-independence of populations themselves.

Type
Genes, Development, and Evolution
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2003 , pp. 989 - 1001
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

This research was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in 1998–2000. Many thanks to John Beatty, Jim Griesemer, and everyone at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science and the Program in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Davis, for their support during and since this time. This work also benefited from discussions with Christopher Eliot, Roberta Millstein, Jenny Reardon, Richard Richards, and Bill Wimsatt, as well as audiences at California State University, Chico, the University of British Columbia, Dubrovnik 2000, ISHPSSB 2001, Northwest Conference 2002, and PSA 2002.

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