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The Stem Cell Uncertainty Principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Melinda Bonnie Fagan
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Abstract

Stem cells are defined as having capacities for both self-renewal and differentiation. Many different entities satisfy this working definition. I show that this general stem cell concept is relative to a cell lineage, temporal duration, and characters of interest. Experiments specify values for these variables. So claims about stem cells must be understood in terms of experimental methods used to identify them. Furthermore, the stem cell concept imposes evidential constraints on interpretation of experimental results. From these constraints, it follows that claims about stem cell capacities are inherently uncertain. This result has important implications for stem cell research.

Type
General Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 80 , Issue 5 , December 2013 , pp. 945 - 957
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Thanks to Irv Weissman, Lisa Lloyd, Leo Aguila, Paul Simmons, and participants in the PSA session “Ontological Issues in the Life Sciences” (San Diego, CA, November 2012). The article has also benefited from comments on earlier versions presented at ISHPSSB (International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology; University of Utah, July 2011), the European Science Foundation Systems Biology Workshop (Aarhus University, August 2011), and the Baker Institute for Public Policy (Rice University, September 2011). Funding was provided by the Humanities Research Center at Rice University and a grant from the Mosle Research Foundation.

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