Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:12:30.639Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pathways to Biomedical Discovery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Paul Thagard
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A biochemical pathway is a sequence of chemical reactions in a biological organism. Such pathways specify mechanisms that explain how cells carry out their major functions by means of molecules and reactions that produce regular changes. Many diseases can be explained by defects in pathways, and new treatments often involve finding drugs that correct those defects. This paper presents explanation schemas and treatment strategies that characterize how thinking about pathways contributes to biomedical discovery. It discusses the significance of pathways for understanding the nature of diseases, explanations, and theories.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 235 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

I am grateful to Lindley Darden and two anonymous referees for very helpful suggestions. This research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

References

Achtman, Mark, and Suerbaum, Sebastian (eds.) (2001), Helicobacter pylori: Molecular and Cellular Biology. Oxford: Horizon Scientific Press.Google Scholar
Allen Colin, Marc Bekoff, and Lauder, George (eds.) (1998), Nature’s Purposes. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bechtel, William, and Richardson, Robert C. (1993), Discovering Complexity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Biocarta (2002), “Charting Pathways of Life”, http://www.biocarta.com/genes/index.asp.Google Scholar
Boorse, Christopher (1977), “Health as a Theoretical Concept”, Health as a Theoretical Concept 44:542–573.Google Scholar
Caplan, Arthur L. (1992), “If Gene Therapy Is the Cure, What Is the Disease?”, in Annas, George J. and Elias, Sherman (eds.), Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics as Guides. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, Arthur L., Engelhardt, H. Tristram, and McCartney, James M. (eds.) (1981), Concepts of Health and Disease: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Carpenter, William T., and Buchanan, Robert W. (1994), “Schizophrenia”, Schizophrenia 330:681–690.Google ScholarPubMed
Chesselet, Marie-Françoise, and Delfs, Jill M. (1996), “Basal Ganglia and Movement Disorders: An Update”, Basal Ganglia and Movement Disorders: An Update 19:417–422.Google ScholarPubMed
Craver, Carl F. (2001), “Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy”, Role Functions, Mechanisms, and Hierarchy 68:53–74.Google Scholar
Darden, Lindley (2002), “Strategies for Discovering Mechanisms: Schema Instantiation, Modular Subassembly, Forward/Backward Chaining”, Philosophy of Science 69 (Proceedings): S354–S365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Lindley, and Cain, Joseph (1989), “Selection Type Theories”, Selection Type Theories 56:106–129.Google Scholar
Endo, Akira (1992), “The Discovery and Development of Hmg-Coa Reductase Inhibitors”, The Discovery and Development of Hmg-Coa Reductase Inhibitors 33:1569–1582.Google ScholarPubMed
Engelhardt, H. Tristram (1984), “Clinical Problems and the Concept of Disease”, in Nordenfelt, Lennart and Lindahl, B. Ingemar B.. (eds.), Health, Disease, and Causal Explanations in Medicine. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Giere, Ronald N. (1988), Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, Ronald N. (1999), Science without Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hahn, William C., and Weinberg, Robert A. (2002a), “Modelling the Molecular Circuitry of Cancer”, Modelling the Molecular Circuitry of Cancer 2:331–334.Google Scholar
Hahn, William C., and Weinberg, Robert A. (2002b), “A Subway Map of Cancer Pathways”, http://www.nature.com/nrc/journal/v2/n5/weinberg_poster/.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hempel, Carl G. (1965), Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Hesslow, Germund (1993), “Do We Need a Concept of Disease?”, Do We Need a Concept of Disease? 14:1–14.Google Scholar
Humber, James M., and Almeder, Robert F. (eds.) (1997), What Is Disease? Totowa, NJ: Humana Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hupp, Ted R., Lane, David P., and Ball, Kathryn L. (2000), “Strategies for Manipulating the P53 Pathway in the Treatment of Human Cancer”, Strategies for Manipulating the P53 Pathway in the Treatment of Human Cancer 352:1–17.Google ScholarPubMed
Karp, Peter (2001), “Pathway Databases: A Case Study in Computational Symbolic Theories”, Pathway Databases: A Case Study in Computational Symbolic Theories 293:2040–2044.Google ScholarPubMed
Kitcher, Philip (1993), The Advancement of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Leake, David B. (1992), Evaluating Explanations: A Content Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lodish Harvey, Arnold Berk, Zipursky, S. Lawrence, Matsudaira, Paul, Baltimore, David, and Darnell, James (2000), Molecular Cell Biology, 4th ed. New York: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Machamer Peter, Lindley Darden, and Craver, Carl F. (2000), “Thinking About Mechanisms”, Thinking About Mechanisms 67:1–25.Google Scholar
Mandel, Siegfried (1969), Dictionary of Science. New York: Dell.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, Peter (2001), What Functions Explain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Messer, William S. Jr. (2002), “Mbc 3320 Dopamine”, http://www.neurosci.pharm.utoledo.edu/MBC3320/dopamine.htm.Google Scholar
Moran, Laurence A., Scirmgeour, K. Gray, Horton, H. Robert, Ochs, Raymond S., and Rawn, J. David (1994), Biochemistry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
NCI (National Cancer Institute) (2002), “Making the Connections for a Targeted Cancer Treatment Takes Time and Perseverance”, http://plan.cancer.gov/infra/sod.htmGoogle Scholar
Reznek, Lawrie (1987), The Nature of Disease. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Salmon, Wesley C. (1984), Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Salmon, Wesley C. (1989), “Four Decades of Scientific Explanation”, in Kitcher, Phillip and Salmon, Wesley C. (eds.), Scientific Explanation, Minnesota Studies in the History of Science, vol. 13. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 3–219.Google Scholar
Sapp, Shawn A. (2002), “Metamol Gallery”, http://lamar.colostate.edu/~sasapp/metamol-gallery.html.Google Scholar
Schaffner, Kenneth F. (1993), Discovery and Explanation in Biology and Medicine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schank, Roger C. (1986), Explanation Patterns: Understanding Mechanically and Creatively. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Steffan, Joan S. et al. (2001), “Histone Deacetylase Hinhiborts Arrest Polyglutamine-Dependent Neurodegeneration in Drosophila ital“, Nature 413:739–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thagard, Paul (1988), Computational Philosophy of Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thagard, Paul (1992), Conceptual Revolutions. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thagard, Paul (1999), How Scientists Explain Disease. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thagard, Paul (2002a), “Curing Cancer? Patrick Lee’s Path to the Reovirus Treatment”, Curing Cancer? Patrick Lee’s Path to the Reovirus Treatment 16:179–193.Google Scholar
Thagard, Paul (2002b), “How Molecules Matter to Mental Computation”, How Molecules Matter to Mental Computation 69:429–446.Google Scholar
Initiative, Therapeutics (2002), “Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers”, http://www.ti.ubc.ca/pages/letter28.htm.Google Scholar
Woolfolk, Robert L. (1999), “Malfunction and Mental Illness”, Malfunction and Mental Illness 82:658–670.Google Scholar