Lorusso Ludovica, Boniolo Giovanni
Department of Philosophy , via 8 Febbraio, 2-35122 Padova, Italy.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2008 Mar;39(1):163-70. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2007.12.005. Epub 2008 Feb 12.
We inquire into the notions of 'boundary' and 'cluster' in the fields of medical genetics, pharmacogenetics, and population genetics. First we show that the two notions are not well discussed in literature. Then we propose a promising explication of them, in which we argue that clustering is always 'property laden', that is, fundamentally dependent on decisions about the properties to be taken into account. In particular we suggest three different kinds of properties (main properties, investigating properties, and catalyzing properties) that have a role in these decisions. That is, we conclude that boundaries and clusters among humans depend on our way of considering nature. Concepts of 'race' and 'ethnic group' are discussed too, since they are the most used clusters among humans.
我们探究医学遗传学、药物遗传学和群体遗传学领域中的“边界”和“聚类”概念。首先，我们表明这两个概念在文献中并未得到充分讨论。然后，我们提出了一种对它们有前景的阐释，其中我们认为聚类总是“负载属性的”，也就是说，从根本上依赖于关于要考虑的属性的决策。特别是，我们提出了在这些决策中起作用的三种不同类型的属性（主要属性、研究属性和催化属性）。也就是说，我们得出结论，人类之间的边界和聚类取决于我们看待自然的方式。“种族”和“族群”的概念也会被讨论，因为它们是人类中最常用的聚类。
