CAN PHYSICALIST ANTIREDUCTIONISM COMPUTE THE EMBRYO

It is widely held that (1) there are autonomous levels of organization above that of the macromolecule and that (2) at least sometimes macro molecular processes are best explained in terms of such autonomous kin ds. I argue that molecular developmental biology honors neither of the se claims, and I show that the only way they can be rendered consisten t with a minimal physicalism is through the adoption of controversial claims about causation and explanation which undercut the force of the se two antireductionism claims.