Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences

In this presentation, I propose an enquiry on the epistemological status of the concept of biological heredity. I analyse more precisely the different roles historically played by metaphors in the studies dedicated to biological heredity and I argue that these roles had significant and diverse impacts on the status of a concept that turned out to be central in life sciences. Through a brief historical journey, I first show that the notion of biological heredity has been oscillating, since its introduction in medical and physiological studies, between theory and metaphor. I further state that, after the golden age of Genetics and in the context of a growing attention to non-genetic channels of transmission, the return in scientific discourses of images that are not acknowledged as such may bring biological heredity back to the field of metaphorical concepts. Finally, I offer an overview of some criteria that should be met to establish and consolidate the theoretical dimension of the concept of biological heredity, even when it is extended.