Lindley Darden (born 1945) is a contemporary philosopher of science,[1] with a research focus on the philosophy of biology.
For example, Darden examines the Mendelian "Theory of the Gene," which underwent significant theoretical modifications from around 1900 (when Mendel was "rediscovered") to 1926 (when Thomas Hunt Morgan published his famous textbook defining Mendelian theory in its roughly modern form).
Ultimately, by constructing a list of such strategies for discovery, Darden hopes that scientists can use them to solve present theoretical problems that contemporary science encounters.
In 2006, Darden completed her second book, entitled Reasoning in Biological Discoveries: Essays on Mechanisms, Interfield Relations, and Anomaly Resolution.
In it, Darden propounds a number of strategies for discovering mechanisms in biology, including "Schema Instantiation," "Modular Subassembly," and "Forward/Backward Chaining."