Jacques Monod’s path towards the concept of “genetic program”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/lv.2026.31.1.4567Keywords:
Molecular biology, Cybernetics, Operon Model, Teleology, TeleonomyAbstract
In the following paper we will show how the approach towards the phenomenon of enzymatic adaptation between the 1940s and 1950s exhibits a transition from the discourse of specificity towards the adoption of informational jargon in the nascent molecular biology.
The case of the molecular biologist Jacques Monod will be analyzed, since he represents one of the main protagonists in this transitional period, showing how he abandons his description of bacteria’s behavior by appealing to a reconfiguration of their “molecular ecology”, up to the gestation of the concept of “genetic program”, product of the adoption of informational jargon coming from the fields of information theory and cybernetics. This new description of the phenomenon allows, in Monod’s opinion, the eradication of explanations of a teleological nature, which is why he considers it convenient to replace it by the term “teleonomy”.
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