Biologists and philosophers often use the language of determination in order to describe the nature of developmental phenomena. Accounts in terms of determination have often been reductionist. One common idea is that DNA is supposed to play a special explanatory role in developmental explanations, namely, that DNA is a developmental determinant. In this article we try to make sense of determination claims in developmental biology. Adopting a manipulationist approach, we shall first argue that the notion of developmental determinant is causal. We suggest that two different theses concerning developmental determination can be articulated: determination of occurrence and structural determination. We shall argue that, while the first thesis is problematic, the second, opportunely qualified, is feasible. Finally, we shall argue that an analysis of biological causation in terms of determination cannot account for entangled dynamics. Characterising causal entanglement as a particular kind of interactive causation whereby difference-making causes ascribable to different levels of biological organisation influence a particular ontogenetic outcome, we shall, via two illustrative examples, diagnose some potential limits of a reductionist, molecular and intra-level understanding of biological causation.

中文翻译：

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从生物测定到纠缠因果

生物学家和哲学家经常使用确定性语言来描述发育现象的本质。就决心而言，账目通常是还原论的。一个普遍的想法是，DNA 应该在发育解释中发挥特殊的解释作用，即 DNA 是发育决定因素。在本文中，我们试图理解发育生物学中的决定性主张。采用操纵论的方法，我们将首先论证发展决定因素的概念是因果关系。我们建议可以阐明关于发展决定的两个不同的论点：发生的决定和结构的决定。我们将论证，虽然第一个论文是有问题的，但第二个，恰如其分地限定，是可行的。最后，我们将争辩说，根据确定性对生物因果关系进行分析不能解释纠缠的动态。将因果纠缠描述为一种特定类型的交互因果关系，由此可归因于不同生物组织水平的差异化原因影响特定的个体发育结果，我们将通过两个说明性示例，诊断还原论、分子和层次内理解的一些潜在限制生物学原因。