期刊名称：Hyle : International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry
印刷版ISSN：1433-5158
出版年度：2009
卷号：15
期号：1
页码：15-20
出版社：HYLE Publications, Karlsruhe and University of Karlsruhe
摘要：This paper proceeds from the hypothesis that two kinds of conver-gence can be distinguished: a theoretical convergence, when several scientific fields relate to the same model; and an instrumental convergence, when a sci-entific discipline provides other disciplines with scientific tools which are nec-essary to develop experiences. We will thus investigate the convergence be-tween molecular biology and information science to discover that, in the 1960s, the convergence was theoretical, since molecular biology and genetics were built upon a metaphor drawn from computer science. Instrumental con-vergence was not reached until the development of microelectronics and mi-crocomputers and the apparition of technologies specifically adjusted for bio-logical (and medical) research. The current situation is characterized by the following paradox: biology, while becoming more and more performing, thanks to labs on chips, tends to free itself from the metaphor from which it originated and by which it was inspired for a long time
