Postdoctoral Fellowship: Exploring Ideas of Cooperation in the Biological Sciences During the Interwar Period

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the research of a post-doctoral fellow on a history of biology project that focuses on a variety of different ideas of cooperation that developed during the interwar period (1919-1939). His primary goal is to understand what motivated the work that emphasized cooperation, as well as the nature of that work. He will do so using a set of driving questions and a research plan that utilizes three approaches, which are indicated below. Among the questions that he will pursue are the following. What was cooperation-oriented thinking? To what extent and in what ways was there a shared focus on cooperation and related ideas? What terms in addition to "cooperation" capture this thinking? What motivated researchers to study the biological nature and significance of cooperation during this particular historical period? How did the ideas develop over time, and are there unique features that characterize this period? The results of this project are to be disseminated through both traditional and digital publications, at conferences, and in classrooms. They will be aimed at scientists, scholars, and the general reading public. The postdoc will use his extensive training and experience in digital history to design a blog that showcases pertinent documents, photographs, stories, and novelties that arise out of this project. This website will introduce users to previously overlooked aspects of American biology and international relations. A working hypothesis of the project is that although biologists during the interwar period used different labels for cooperative behavior including holism, unity, emergence, and organicism, they shared a common underlying goal; namely, to provide a biological explanation for cooperation, of how parts come together as coordinated wholes. The postdoc plans to focus on a specific facet of this goal by examining how this generation of biologists across different fields advanced theories about the evolution and nature of sociality and cooperation (as opposed to competition). His primary goal is to understand how and why these biologists devoted enormous effort and energy to better understanding the origin of social impulses. He will do so by engaging in a close study of the scientific, social, cultural, and political details of the period to obtain a deeper understanding of the ideas of cooperation. He will use archival research, computational methods, and interactions with current researchers in biosocial systems to bring to light what biologists are saying about cooperation today to compare ideas of cooperation across two different time frames; the comparison can both inform the historical study and inform current conceptions.