ERIC Number: EJ1412606
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9266
EISSN: EISSN-2157-6009
Available Date: N/A
The Notion of 'Information' in Genetics: A Pragmatic Model
Journal of Biological Education, v58 n1 p89-100 2024
In this paper I suggest a pragmatic model for the notion of 'information' used in molecular biology in the description of protein synthesis. Discarding any ontological commitments of the term 'information', I propose a view of information based on an analogy with communication. This view could at least supplement the existing information-metaphor that should be updated for two reasons: (i) the concept of information it presupposes, and (ii) the origin of the metaphor itself. Besides, the metaphorical nature of the notion of 'information' is still often overlooked, which leads to a false sense of understanding of the underlying genetic phenomena it should describe. The advantages of a model based on communication, as it is seen by the field of pragmatics, is twofold: (i) it provides a rather simple analogy between human communication and basic genetic processes, and (ii) it supplies the tools for the understanding of the non-literal use of the term 'information'.
Descriptors: Genetics, Molecular Biology, Figurative Language, Communication (Thought Transfer), Communications, Coding, Vocabulary, Language Usage, Language Styles, Pragmatics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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