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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 3: Complex and Open Systems

AGPhil 3.4: Vortrag

Dienstag, 27. März 2012, 12:00–12:30, H 2033

Scientific Models of Living Phenomena: An Epistemic Overview of Condensed Matter Physics of Complex Biological Systems. — •Daniele Macuglia — Morris Fishbein Center and The Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, The University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

This essay focuses on the legitimacy of studying complex biological systems by means of modeling strategies typically employed by condensed matter physicists. Some of the most important examples of complex systems do indeed belong to the biological sciences and include living phenomena such as cells, ecosystems and neural networks. These systems are ultimately composed of fundamental particles that interact by means of fundamental physical laws and it is legitimate to think of a level at which the physical and biological descriptions might meet. Yet this view is affected by a remarkable epistemic impasse that calls closer attention to the role of modeling and idealization at the physics-biology interface. Whereas condensed matter physics proceeds by modeling strategies that due to their high level of idealization are often deemed unsuitable for biological investigations, biological scientists do normally focus on a set of very narrow and context-dependent issues for which modeling is often problematic. By analyzing specific examples taken from the literature in both philosophy and the hard sciences, this paper shows what kind of conceptual and methodological difficulties might arise when studying complex biological systems by means of condensed matter physical approaches. It also describes alternative theoretical frameworks to possibly overcome them.