CELL AND BODY: INDIVIDUALS IN STEM CELL BIOLOGY
1 : Department of Philosophy, Rice University
* : Corresponding author
Stem cell biology aims to answer three questions: (1) What are stem cells? (2) How are stem cells recognized? (3) What is required for stem cell function? This paper examines these as questions about individuation. I argue that the stem cell concept cuts across traditional conceptions of biological individuals: cells and organisms. Stem cells are defined in relation to a cell lineage, relative to a set of traits of interest, and in the context of an organismal body. This conception of stem cells makes sense of biomedical practices involving stem cells. However, this view also entails severe constraints on experimental identification of stem cells. In response to these constraints, some scientists propose an alternative conception, ‘stemness:' a cell state defined in molecular terms. I argue that the molecular definition of stemness is inadequate for the purposes of stem cell biology. Instead, I suggest, the metaphysically transformative aspect of stem cells should be central to any adequate conception of these entities. Stem cell experiments are then reframed in terms of the interplay of developing entity and context: cell and niche, organism and environment. From this analysis, the organism emerges as a linchpin of stem cell biology.
