ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses thought experiments in biology that has focused on evolutionary biology. However, there are also candidates to be found in other fields of biology. The chapter discusses two examples from mid-twentieth-century molecular biology. The first example concerns protein synthesis and the genetic code, the other is about protein folding and the so-called "Levinthal paradox". It is remarkable that a simple consideration such as Levinthal's topple a widely held theoretical assumption based on an established physical theory. The examples in the chapter suggests that thought experimenting is used in scientific modeling as a means of evaluating the relevance of theoretical model as its consistency with more general models pertaining to similar cases. Lennox's account of Darwinian thought experiments raises many interesting issues. A first issue concerns the identification and the limits of epistemic category of thought experiments, another one the psychological aspects related to the evaluation of the explanatory power of a theory by means of Darwinian thought experiments.
