title: Enzymatic cybernetics: an unpublished work by Jacques Monod.
abstract: In 1959, Jacques Monod wrote a manuscript entitled Cybernétique enzymatique [Enzymatic cybernetics]. Never published, this unpublished manuscript presents a synthesis of how Monod interpreted enzymatic adaptation just before the publication of the famous papers of the 1960s on the operon. In addition, Monod offers an example of a philosophy of biology immersed in scientific investigation. Monod's philosophical thoughts are classified into two categories, methodological and ontological. On the methodological side, Monod explicitly hints at his preferences regarding the scientific method in general: hypothetical-deductive method, and use of theoretical models. He also makes heuristic proposals regarding molecular biology: the need to analyse the phenomena in question at the level of individual cells, and the dual aspect of all biological explanation, functional and evolutionary. Ontological issues deal with the notions of information and genetic determinism, "cellular memory", the irrelevance of the notion of "living matter", and the usefulness of a cybernetic comprehension of molecular biology.
authors.affiliation: Institut d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST), UMR8590, Université Paris-1/CNRS/ENS, 6, rue du Four, 75006 Paris, France. Electronic address: jean.gayon@univ-paris1.fr.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gayon
mesh_terms: D003491:Cybernetics / Q000266:history*; D004798:Enzymes / Q000502:physiology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes
keywords: Adaptation enzymatique; Cybernetics; Cybernétique; Déterminisme génétique; Enzymatic adaptation; Genetic determinism; Jacques Monod; Méthode scientifique; Philosophie de la biologie; Philosophy of biology; Scientific method