Introduction
In this paper we will examine some problems that arise from a standard, deterministic, method of objectivation in our understanding of embryogenesis. Then, we will suggest an alternative procedure of objectivation. In the first section of this paper, entitled “The molecular version of embryogenesis”, we will analyze the purely genetic description of embryogenesis, trying to bring out the non-neutral epistemological framework that underpins it. In fact, this description comes from the idea that a collection of specific developmental genes entirely controls the developmental process of living systems [Nusslein-Volhard 1997], [Lewis 1997], [Wieschaus 1997]. This theoretical framework has recently been challenged [Neumann-Held & Rehmann-Sutter 2006]. In particular, it makes it difficult to explain the interactions between different levels of organization. Many research papers are now interested in a class of examples, in which extra-genetic factors seem to have a causal role...
