Constitutive Control: How Experimental Control Strategies Co-Evolved with Biological Knowledge in 19th-Century Physiology

Serban, Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2183-7147 (2026) Constitutive Control: How Experimental Control Strategies Co-Evolved with Biological Knowledge in 19th-Century Physiology. Perspectives on Science, 34 (1). pp. 43-81.

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Abstract

How do different experimental control strategies shape the production of biological knowledge? This paper examines Emil du Bois-Reymond’s electrophysiological investigations and Claude Bernard’s toxicological research in 19th-century physiology. Rather than viewing these as opposing methodologies, I analyze their approaches to nerve-muscle communication as complementary responses to shared epistemic challenges. Using Schickore’s framework for experimental control (2025), I show through a detailed historical analysis that experimental control functioned constitutively rather than merely technically in both research programs. Both scientists engaged in extensive second-order experimentation, systematically exploring their experimental setups to determine what factors needed controlling. Du Bois-Reymond’s non-polarizable electrodes made possible new ways of understanding biological electricity as quantifiable phenomena, while Bernard’s ligature preparation constituted a method for understanding physiological functions as systematically separable within integrated organisms. Control practices and theoretical commitments co-evolved such that what counted as legitimate operationalization of theoretical principles was shaped by experimental practice. This analysis shows how experimental methodology and biological knowledge co-develop, suggesting implications for understanding methodological tensions in contemporary biological research.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Medical Humanities Research Network
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Oct 2026 14:17
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2026 06:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104940
DOI:	10.1162/posc.a.572

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