ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with the relationship between properties (or relations, processes, states of affairs, etc.) at different levels of organization, for example, molecular versus cellular. It argues against explanatory reductionism and points to a way to maintain the explanatory autonomy of the biological sciences. It develops a holistic view about biological models, the philosophical implications derived from discussing biological models seem to be very general such that they can be extrapolated to nonbiological models. The book develops a holistic view of model explanation in the biological sciences.
