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Biology meets physics: Reductionism and multi-scale modeling of morphogenesis
Sara Green1, Robert Batterman2
1Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 3, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
|December 27, 2016
Summary
Reductive explanations face challenges across scales in physics and biology due to the "tyranny of scales." Multi-scale modeling reveals interdependent, not purely reductive, relationships between disciplines.
Area of Science:
- Interdisciplinary science
- Multiscale modeling
- Philosophy of science
Background:
- Reductionism assumes macro-behaviors are predictable from micro-level details.
- Philosophers of biology critique the sufficiency of fundamental physics for biological explanations.
- Biological processes like gene regulation and evolution are considered irreducible.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of bottom-up modeling across scales in physical systems.
- To analyze the challenges posed by the
- tyranny of scales
- to reductive explanations in physics and biology.
- To explore the interdisciplinary relationship between physics and biology through multiscale modeling.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of multiscale modeling examples in physics and biology.
- Examination of scale-dependency in physical and biological behaviors.
- Case study of biomechanical modeling in developmental biology.
Main Results:
- The "tyranny of scales" complicates reductive explanations in both physics and biology.
- Multiscale modeling necessitates combining diverse models with scale-specific strategies and boundary conditions.
- Physics-based models in biology often highlight the necessity of macro-scale explanations.
Conclusions:
- The relationship between physics and biology in modeling is interdependent, not strictly reductive.
- Macro-scale models and explanations are crucial, even when informed by physics.
- Multiscale modeling reveals a complex interplay between different scientific disciplines and scales.
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