Lessons from the irreducibility of biology to molecular biology

Following some preliminary considerations, this paper addresses the possibility of reducing biology to molecular biology. To that end, I will assume a scenario which, in my view, is the most persuasive in favor of such reduction. According to this scenario, an evolutionary mechanism such as genetic drift would be treated as solely responsible for changes in the heritable traits of biological populations across successive generations. In other words, I will assume a situation in which explanatory models necessarily rely on unidirectional causal relationship, from micro- to macro-level phenomena and processes—models that would, ostensibly, support the reduction of biology to molecular biology. However, I intend to show that such explanations cannot fully displace the theory of natural selection and, moreover, that they conceptually parasitize on it. In addition to demonstrating the impossibility of reducing biology to molecular biology, this should also point to the distinctive character not only of Darwin's theory, but of the biological sciences as a whole.