THE BIRTH OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: REVOLUTION, REDUCTION AND DIVERSIFICATION - AN ESSAY ON THEORETICAL MODELS TO DESCRIBE THE SCIENTIFIC CHANGE

Authors

  • Marília Coutinho

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35977/0104-1096.cct1998.v15.8945

Keywords:

revolução científica, biologia molecular, genética, história da ciência, sociologia da ciência, disciplinas científicas, redução teórica.

Abstract

The birth of molecular biology is considered a dramatic episode in the development of the life sciences. However, whether it is a scientific revolution is disputable. It does not conform to the kuhnian model for scientific revolutions. Nor does it fit the theoretical reduction model. It is a discontinuity without theoretical substitution. If the groups of scientists and their dynamics are included in the analysis, the episode appears to be a process of disciplinary diversification. Two sociological models help us understand the disputes and power relations involved in it, those proposed by L. Fleck and P. Bourdieu.

Author Biography

Marília Coutinho

Doutora em Sociologia, professora do Departamento de Relações Internacionais da UnB C.P. 04561, Brasília, DF CEP: 70919-970.

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Published

1998-01-01

How to Cite

Coutinho, M. (1998). THE BIRTH OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: REVOLUTION, REDUCTION AND DIVERSIFICATION - AN ESSAY ON THEORETICAL MODELS TO DESCRIBE THE SCIENTIFIC CHANGE. Science & Technology Journals, 15(3), 43–82. https://doi.org/10.35977/0104-1096.cct1998.v15.8945

Issue

Vol. 15,n.3 - set./dez.,(1998)

Section

Ensaios

License

After publication of the work, the Authors are authorized to non-exclusively distribute the version of the published work (for example: publish in an institutional repository, as a book chapter, create links on electronic pages, etc.), as long as the authorship and initial publication in this journal are mentioned.