Epistemic and Ethical Functions of Categories in the Agricultural Sciences

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

The system for classifying objects of study in the sciences affects what can be known about them, and how they should be treated. The categories used within different systems of classification group the entities, processes, and systems that are the subject matter of the science, and determine how one differs from another. Agricultural science is a particularly important focus for studying systems of classification because social norms such as farm productivity, environmental quality and the economic competitiveness of farmers have long been explicitly recognized as values that influence the content and methods in agronomy, horticulture, and animal science. The project will apply analytic methods from the philosophy of science to improve understanding of how social, economic, ethical, and political values interact with biologically-oriented science in the agricultural sciences. This project will advance the clarity and quality of social and political debates that are currently shaping the practice of plant and animal food production with respect to issues such as environmental sustainability, food justice, adjustments to agriculture in response to climate change, and the welfare of livestock in intensive production systems. The core research team will identify categories and classification methods that proved decisive in steering the direction of research, or its subsequent application in several case studies on the agricultural sciences. A larger community including scholars working on agricultural science and veteran agricultural researchers will be created to steer, critique, and work collaboratively with the PIs. Research from the project will be published and will serve as the basis for a course designed for Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Colleges of Arts and Letters. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.