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    Kenneth Waters' 'actual difference making' account shows ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Despite publicly disavowing genetic determinism, biologists often implicitly adhere to a weaker form of genetic primacy, holding that traits are primarily (even if not wholly) genetic.

    Kenneth Waters' 'actual difference making' account shows geneticists privilege genes because they explain actual population variation, not because genes are causally superior in principle.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Geneticists consistently explain observed trait variation by identifying allelic differences, not by invoking environmental or developmental factors.
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    • 2.Waters' account avoids genetic determinism by grounding gene-privilege in explanatory practice rather than metaphysical causal hierarchy.
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    • 3.Population-level variation is the actual explanandum geneticists target; genes provide difference-making explanations for what varies across populations.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Environmental factors also explain actual population variation systematically (e.g., nutrition, disease exposure); gene-privilege cannot rest on explanatory relevance alone.
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    • 2.Waters conflates pragmatic research focus with causal explanatory structure; scientists' toolkit reflects institutional constraints, not actual difference-making.
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    • 3.Gene-centric explanations succeed only because geneticists hold other causal factors constant; this methodological strategy doesn't justify privileging genes causally.
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    Key Terms

    Actual difference making(as the central concept in Waters' account)
    The idea that something is important or explanatory because it actually helps us understand real-world variations we observe, not because it's theoretically powerful in the abstract.
    Causally superior in principle(as the mistaken assumption Waters challenges)
    The assumption that something is more fundamental or more 'in charge' of causing effects in the world, based on theory alone rather than on what actually works in practice.
    Geneticists(as one type of specialist needed for risk assessment)
    Scientists who study genes and heredity—how traits and characteristics are passed down from parents to offspring.
    Kenneth Waters(in philosophy of biology and genetics)
    A philosopher of science who studies how genes actually cause traits in living things, and argues that we need to be able to actively change a gene to prove it really causes something.
    Population variation(as what genes are used to explain)
    The differences you see among individuals in a group—like why some people are taller or have different eye colors than others in the same population.

    Connections

    2 topics

    Causation1 linkedBioethics1 linked

    Related

    Despite publicly disavowing genetic determinism, biologists often implicitly adh...Environmental factors also explain actual population variation systematically (e...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Gene-centric explanations succeed only because geneticists hold other causal fac...
    Geneticists consistently explain observed trait variation by identifying allelic...
    +3 moreShow less
    Population-level variation is the actual explanandum geneticists target; genes p...Waters conflates pragmatic research focus with causal explanatory structure; sci...Waters' account avoids genetic determinism by grounding gene-privilege in explan...