Ruey-Lin Chen (National Chung Cheng University)
"What is a gene?" is an important philosophical question that has been asked over and over. This paper approaches this question by understanding it as the individuation problem of genes, because it implies the problem of identifying genes and identifying a gene presupposes individuating the gene. I argue that there are at least two levels of the individuation of genes. The transgenic technique can individuate "a gene" as an individual while the technique of gene mapping in classical genetics can only individuate "a gene" as a type or a kind. The two levels of individuation involve different techniques, different targets that are individuated, and different references of the term "gene".
