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...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | deu |
Published: |
Éditions Kimé
2019-02-01
|
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. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1281-2463 1775-4283 |