The Synthetic Approach in Biology: Epistemic Notes for Synthetic Biology

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to provide a framework of epistemology to the growing field of synthetic biology (SB). It is preliminarily argued that there are two kinds of SB, one (bioengineering SB) clearly and purposely directed towards one goal set from the start and the other kind being more concerned with basic science and responding to the basic question, ``why this and not that?'' They need to be considered separately from the point of view of epistemology.