   Schaffner’s account provided the motivation and point of departure for much of the reduction debate in philosophy of biology, which was conducted primarily in the 1970s and 80s and revolved around the issue of whether (and in which sense)  classical genetics can be reduced to molecular genetics  or biochemistry. Three criticisms pertaining specifically to the Nagel-Schaffner model bear mentioning.  (Section 4  reviews the main objections to different models of reduction more generally.)