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Back into Future: The Systems Biology to Come

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Contextualizing Systems Biology

Abstract

Systems biology is a multidimensional endeavor shaped by cultural and societal factors, as well as by the requirements of scientific practice. By taking up the initial questions of our study, this chapter reveals basic assumptions and constitutive conditions of systems biology, and embeds our findings in a broader scientific and sociocultural context. It first carves out some presuppositions of contemporary science in general, and of systems biology in particular, and reflects them with regard to different paradigms in biology as well as to its past and future developments imagined by systems biologists. Next we discuss the epistemic implications of systems biology’s practice, especially its dependence on ICT. Against this background we address the question of whether systems biology should be regarded as an approach or a discipline and offer a new and refreshing answer to this lasting controversy. How science policy pertinent to systems biology is perceived by different actors in the field, and how it shapes systems biology, completes the picture of contextualized scientific development. By referring to public perceptions of systems biology in Germany and Austria and its metaphorical framings in the media, the final section provides a short and speculative outlook on the possible futures of systems biology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Scientific or epistemic practice in general denotes knowledge-generating practices, for example, the accumulation, verification, and distribution of knowledge, but also the processes and practices of its justification. Because it is a practice “in which scientists’ values for what count as good questions, appropriate methods, and good answers are constructed and negotiated within particular scientific disciplines and communities” it is also a genuine social practice (Sandoval and Morrison 2003, 370). Such practices are inherently epistemic, based on ideas about what kind of knowledge is “true” and justified. This view is supported by current philosophical views of science (e.g., Kuhn 1996) and by sociological studies of professional science (e.g., Latour 1987; Latour and Woolgar 1986).

  2. 2.

    Ontology is a branch of philosophy that deals with questions concerning what entities can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related, or subdivided, whereas epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity. Axiology refers to the study of the nature of values and value judgments.

  3. 3.

    The term paradigm originates in the Greek word parádeigma, consisting of parà (beside, beyond) and deiknymi (to show, to point out). It means “pattern,” “example,” or “sample,” but also “prejudgment,” “worldview,” “belief system,” or “ideology.”

  4. 4.

    In agreement with Derek Gatherer (2010) we do not want to convey the wrong impression that all molecular biologists advocate a “crude” or “naïve” reductionism. Reductionism comes in different variants, which we have outlined in more detail in Chap. 2.

  5. 5.

    For details see Chap. 1, Sect. 1.1.2, and Chap. 2, Sect. 2.5.

  6. 6.

    For details see Chap. 2, Sect. 2.3.

  7. 7.

    Virtual is meant in the sense of having the attributes of something without sharing its (real or imagined) physical form, but which nevertheless has at least some of the function of its in-reality existing counterpart.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Biotechnology, Society and Environment (FSP BIOGUM), University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regine Kollek, Imme Petersen, Martin Döring & Anne Brüninghaus

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  1. Regine Kollek
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  2. Imme Petersen
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  4. Anne Brüninghaus
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Correspondence to Regine Kollek .

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Kollek, R., Petersen, I., Döring, M., Brüninghaus, A. (2015). Back into Future: The Systems Biology to Come. In: Contextualizing Systems Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17106-7_7

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