Cancer research is experiencing 'paradigm instability', since there are two rival theories of carcinogenesis which confront themselves, namely the Somatic Mutation Theory and the Tissue Organization Field Theory. Despite this theoretical uncertainty, a huge quantity of data is available thanks to the improvement of genome sequencing techniques. Some authors think that the development of new statistical tools will be able to overcome the lack of a shared theoretical perspective on cancer by amalgamating as many data as possible. We think instead that a deeper understanding of cancer can be achieved by means of more theoretical work, rather than by merely accumulating more data. To support our thesis, we introduce the analytic view of theory development, which rests on the concept of plausibility, and make clear in what sense plausibility and probability are distinct concepts. Then, the concept of plausibility is used to point out the ineliminable role played by the epistemic subject in the development of statistical tools and in the process of theory assessment. We then move to address a central issue in cancer research, namely the relevance of computational tools developed by bioinformaticists to detect driver mutations in the debate between the two main rival theories of carcinogenesis. Finally, we briefly extend our considerations on the role that plausibility plays in evidence amalgamation from cancer research to the more general issue of the divergences between frequentists and Bayesians in the philosophy of medicine and statistics. We argue that taking into account plausibility-based considerations can lead to clarify some epistemological shortcomings that afflict both these perspectives. probability and the concept of randomness concludes this part (section 2.8). In the second part of the paper (section 3), after having briefly illustrated the main rival conceptions of carcinogenesis (section 3.1), the notion of personalized cancer medicine (section 3.2), and the concept of driver mutations (section 3.3), we address some issues in cancer research to test the adequacy and fertility of the theoretical framework presented in the first part. More precisely, we focus on some of the computational tools that have been developed by bioinformaticists for searching driver mutations in cancer specimens (sections 3.4. and 3.5), in order to highlight the role played by plausibility-based considerations in the development of statistical tools and in the assessment of theoretical hypotheses (section 3.6). Finally, in the third part, we put the conclusions that can be drawn from our analysis in a broader context (section 4). We think that our proposal may be of use to address a more general issue, which characterizes both the philosophy of medicine and the philosophy of statistics, and which is also crucial for the epistemological investigations of cancer research, namely the confrontation between frequentists and Bayesians on what is the more adequate way to conceive of evidence amalgamation (sections 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3).
The aim of this article is to explore the impact of Darwinism in metaethics and dispel some of the confusion surrounding it. While the prospects for a Darwinian metaethics appear to be improving, some underlying epistemological issues remain unclear. We will focus on the so-called Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (EDAs) which, when applied in metaethics, are defined as arguments that appeal to the evolutionary origins of moral beliefs so as to undermine their epistemic justification. The point is that an epistemic disanalogy can be identified in the debate on EDAs between moral beliefs and other kinds of beliefs, insofar as only the former are regarded as vulnerable to EDAs. First, we will analyze some significant debunking positions in metaethics in order to show that they do not provide adequate justification for such an epistemic disanalogy. Then, we will assess whether they can avoid the accusation of being epistemically incoherent by adopting the same evolutionary account for all kinds of beliefs. In other words, once it is argued that Darwinism has a corrosive impact on metaethics, what if its universal acid cannot be contained?
How should one conceive of the method of mathematics, if one takes a naturalist stance? Mathematical knowledge is regarded as the paradigm of certain knowledge, since mathematics is based on the axiomatic method. Natural science is deeply mathematized, and science is crucial for any naturalist perspective. But mathematics seems to provide a counterexample both to methodological and ontological naturalism. To face this problem, some naturalists try to naturalize mathematics relying on Darwinism. But several difficulties arise when one tries to naturalize in this way the traditional view of mathematics, according to which mathematical knowledge is certain and the method of mathematics is the axiomatic method. This paper suggests that, in order to naturalize mathematics through Darwinism, it is better to take the method of mathematics not to be the axiomatic method.
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