1 How Biologists Conceptualize Genes: An empirical study*

Philosophers of science have made claims about differences in how genes are conceptualized in different fields and about the influence of these conceptualizations on the conduct of research and the interpretation of its results. In this paper we report the results of a questionnaire study of how genes are conceptualized by 81 scientists in relevant fields at the University of Sydney, Australia. The results provide tentative support for some hypotheses about conceptual differences between different fields in biology. 1