The Role of “Missile” and “Targeting” Metaphors in Nanomedicine
In this paper I suggest that the “missile” and the “targeting” metaphors in research on nanoparticle-based drug delivery play different roles. I argue that the “missile” plays a marginal scientific role and a more important role in communication, while “targeting” has become an organizing metaphor f...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Éditions Kimé
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Philosophia Scientiæ |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/philosophiascientiae/1742 |
| Summary: | In this paper I suggest that the “missile” and the “targeting” metaphors in research on nanoparticle-based drug delivery play different roles. I argue that the “missile” plays a marginal scientific role and a more important role in communication, while “targeting” has become an organizing metaphor for the research field. The reason, I suggest, is that targeting is the main explanandum of the field and that this metaphor continues to be relevant even as nanomedicine matures towards tackling more complex problems. Finally, I discuss recent suggestions of new complexity-oriented metaphors, and I suggest that the significant role of simplifying models and the genuine need for such models may explain why complexity metaphors have not caught on among researchers. |
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| ISSN: | 1281-2463 1775-4283 |