Future Directions in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY We propose to host a 5-day intensive graduate training workshop for students of history, philosophy, and social studies of biology. The workshop will be modeled on the very successful graduate training FDISH conference held in San Francisco in 2004, which was sponsored by both the NSF and ISHPSSB (the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology). Ten researchers of distinction from the fields of history, philosophy, and social studies of biology will be invited to address the specific questions: what is the future of biology studies? what are the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration? what can philosophers, historians, sociologists, and biologists learn from one another? In addition to these plenary talks, the faculty attendees will also participate in hands-on workshops addressing training issues, such as: how to write a paper for submission to a journal; strategies for navigating the job market; how to obtain funding for research in biology studies. An innovative feature of the San Francisco FDISH meetings will be continued at the IU meeting, namely, "office hours", wherein faculty members make themselves available at a specific time and location (coffeehouse, restaurant, classroom), for students to drop in and make informal contacts or discuss research ideas. The intellectual merits of the workshop are expected to be widely distributed and varied. Disciplinary training in philosophy, history, and social studies of biology is taken as a given. More unusual intellectual fruits of the workshop will involve interdisciplinary synergies arising from the interactions of the scholars at the various individual sessions and personal interactions. For example, one researcher in philosophy from the past workshop gained access to work of another in ecology that proved fruitful in her postdoctoral project. These sorts of idiosyncratic and unpredictable interactions predictably appear when these groups of researchers on biology are thrown together in the right ways, as we plan to do with the organization of both formal and informal sessions. Broader impacts include: increased interdisciplinary understanding, especially among sciences and humanities; dissemination of up-to-date information regarding high-priority bio-risks and bio-ethical issues; training opportunities and opportunities for network-building for graduate students from a wide variety of institutional backgrounds, including historically black and women's colleges; and emphasis on future employment opportunities for well-trained bio-ethics personnel.