Editorial Office:
Chris Young
History of Science/Natural Philosophy
Mt. Angel Seminary
St. Benedict, OR 97373
E-mail:
NEWSLETTER
Fall 1997
Sixteenth Issue
(Volume 9, No. 2)
CONTENTS
- SOCIETY AND MEETING INFORMATION
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
- MEMBERSHIP & RENEWAL INFORMATION
- SPRING 1998 NEWSLETTER
- SOCIETY ADDRESSES
SOCIETY AND MEETING INFORMATION
From the President's Corner
Elisabeth Lloyd, President 1997-99
Several concerns about the July meetings in Seattle were brought to my attention, and I would like to let the members of the Society know that I and the other members of the executive council and the committees are addressing them. The problems in Seattle with the physical layout of the scheduled meeting rooms, coffee, and book exhibits, have prompted very careful scrutiny of future sites; we will be looking for clusters of meeting rooms and wheelchair accessibility as major desiderata of any future building locations.
The most serious concerns about the program included scheduling problems and worries that European contributors were excluded from sessions with American contributors. We hope to alleviate future confusion about scheduling by prohibiting any program changes within 30 days of the meetings, unless every person involved in all sessions is involved in a decision to change the schedule. The Program Chair, Michael Dietrich, will be insuring the integration of European and American program participants into the various sections.
The exciting prospect of holding the next ISHPSSB meetings in Oaxaca has prompted a few ideas for special elements in the program. One idea is to hold a short session related to archaeology and anthropology in the morning, from 9 a.m.-11 a.m., and then take a bus excursion to the spectacular ruins at Monte Alban, with a guided tour. The trip would take the afternoon, and we would return for a BBQ dinner. This would be the only element on the schedule for that day, and would provide the whole group with the opportunity to learn about the local history and the scientific issues that surround it. We are seeking member-feedback on this idea, so please let either Michael Dietrich (Program Chair) or me know what you think.
Finally, we are making a call for volunteers to be liaisons to other societies, groups, or committees. Weπd like to urge members to notice and look for opportunities to connect to other groups that have overlapping interests with ours. In addition, we would like to know what the members think about having our Society send a delegate to the AAAS. The Philosophy of Science Association has its own membership and delegate, and we should consider whether we want to do the same.
Thank all of you who participated in the meetings in Seattle; the excitement of the discussions, the informal contacts, and the lasting friendships that arise out of these meetings help keep us all going during the strains of the academic year.
Presidential Plenary from the 1997 Meeting
Peter Taylor, ISHPSSB Past President
"Biology and the Agents Without History"
The speakers in this plenary were invited to address the people and things tending to be written out of biology and of our studies of biology, but implicated materially, discursively, economically, or psychologically as the Others. Adele Clarke spoke "On the Need for Immodest Witnesses: The Case of 'Othering' the Reproductive Sciences," and Anne Fausto-Sterling spoke about "The Standard Rat and the Universal Human." Hebe Vessuri was scheduled to speak about "Core-Periphery Relations and the Social History of Biology," but she was at the last moment unfortunately unable to attend. I took the opportunity of time thus freed up to sketch some of the sources and strands woven into the plenary topic.
There are many changes going on in the world that link developments in the life sciences and in the engineering of living forms to diverse processes: to the ever-expanding and ever more rapid circuits of information, finance, and commodities; to the declining regulatory state as it makes space for these ascendant transnational networks; and to capitalπs extension of its legal domain over intellectual property, life-form patents, and marketable pollution licenses. Changes in life have also evoked both resistance and participation by "new" social movements. In their discourses, globalized responsibility for sustaining the environment coexists with the promotion of individualized responsibility for disease and health. And, while some peoples fear being pushed further to the margins through the production of new hybrids, others give a liberatory spin to their visions of more extensive coupling with machines (Taylor et al., 1997, p.1).
Even for those ISHPSSBers who study the past, these changes, and, more generally, the political-economic restructuring of the 1980s and '90s, influence the wider and the more immediate contexts for their work.
These changes are often labeled "globalization," but this obscures a lot. People in far distant places have their lives linked for centuries. As anthropologists Eric Wolf reminds us, accounts of commercial expansion and the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe after 1492 "must take account of the conjoint participation of Western and non-Western peoples in this worldwide process.... Social historians and sociologists have shown that the common people were as much agents in the historical process as they were its victims and silent witnesses. We thus need to uncover the history of "the people without historyπ" (Wolf 1982, pp. ix-x).
This perspective can lead to qualitative changes in how a situation ought to be understood. For example, in the context of biodiversity and resource conservation, Charles Zerner exposed that "in the Central Maluku Islands [of Indonesia], the so-called sasi restrictions on entry into resource areas or on harvests from them, far from being the indigenous conservation institutions that they have been recently called, have been continually re-interpreted and used for different purposes not only by local elites and others in Maluku communities but also first by Dutch colonial officials, then by Indonesian government officials, and, most recently by environmental NGOs as well" (Vayda 1997, p.11; discussing Zerner 1994). The environmental groups invoke conservation and tradition, but the Maluku are particularly interested in pushing back the outsiders so they can extract the resources themselves.
The Wolfian perspective leads us to another source or strand for the plenary topic, the "New Social History." Since the 1970s, historians who have looked have uncovered extraordinary documentation of the lives of peoples previously without history, from slave diaries to early colonial American wills whose list of tools convey much about the gendered division of labor.
This, in turn, leads us to feminist scholarship, itself consisting of several strands:
i) Exposing the contributions of women to biology;
ii) Pointing to the particular kinds of contribution women have been able to make. Or, in standpoint philosophy, are positioned to be able to make;
iii) Pointing to the shaping of biological theory through gendered binaries. For example, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (1981) establishes the terms for the rest of her book on sexual dimorphism in animal behavior through a speculative account of the origin of anisogamy ã the difference in egg and sperm size. She does not notice that this story can only be relevant to sexual dimorphism if eggs are thought of as female and sperms as male. (Very few of my biology students notice this; many of them are perplexed when I point out that both eggs and sperm contribute to both males and females.)
iv) Pointing to theory in all kinds of fields that employs binary metaphors, rooted in ã or at least guyed down by ã personal experiences of a two-gender world. However, as Anne Fausto-Sterling among others has illuminated, this two-gender world is maintained at some cost. Children born with ambiguous genitalia have been treated surgically and psychologically so they better conform to one gender type or the other. In the United States they are beginning to emerge from their silence, challenging us to accept, if not embrace, ambiguity and diversity in gender.
These sources and others have brought new subjects, questions, evidence, and frameworks into biology and into interpretive studies of biology. This plenary seeks to alert or remind ISHPSSBers of new opportunities. Conversely, ISHPSSB has been a supportive context for scholars interested in transgressing established boundaries. One obvious component of that support is that ISHPSSB attracts those scholars from its constituent fields who are most interested in crossing boundaries. Another component is the small size of the meetings, their informal setting, and the absence of the business side of the major professional societies. Living and eating in dormitories one finds out more about people and their work than is presented in the papers delivered.
Therein lies a theme that has become important in my teaching and research: People know more than they acknowledge. New connections are facilitated where, in the right environment, that is brought to light. "Knowing more" has both an inward and an outward direction, a personal and a social sense. In 1989, I organized a plenary in which younger scholars ã not so young now ã presented, more or less autobiographically, how they came to do interdisciplinary work and what sources they drew from when they hit obstacles and faced new challenges. Many members of the audience were moved by hearing the personal dimension of scholarship acknowledgment in public.
I intended this plenary to be complementary, moving in the outward, social direction ã Where can our work go if we pay more attention to the underacknowledged agents in our worlds? By "worlds" here I refer both to the situations studied in the life sciences and to the situations in which ISHPSSB-like interpreters of these sciences do their work. These worlds would become less homogeneous, more variable, and more unequal. Dominant and marginal; core and periphery would be spelled out and challenged. We would become more aware of the effects of work done to homogenize and regularize those worlds, and of the effects of resistance to homogenization and regularization ã the strategies of the dominant are often shaped in response to the agents whose difference and histories become unacknowledged.
I wish we had had Hebe Vessuri to talk about how the social history of biology changes if one tries to make sense of the disciplinary endeavors in the "periphery," for example, in Latin American countries. However, neither three, nor two talks could cover all the dimensions of un- and under-acknowledged agency. I hope, however, that the spirit of this plenary will have stimulated ISHPSSBers to continue to explore subjects, questions, and frameworks from areas whose relevance they previously had not acknowledged.
Literature Cited Hrdy, S. B. (1981). "An Initial Inequality," in The Woman That Never Evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 20-23.
Taylor, P. J., P. N. Edwards, and S. E. Halfon (1997). "Changing Life in the New World Dis/order," in P. J. Taylor, S. E. Halfon and P. N. Edwards (Eds.), Changing Life: Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1-13.
Vayda, A. P. (1997). Managing Forests and Improving the Livelihoods of Forest-Dependent People. Jakarta: Center for International Forestry Research.
Wolf, E. (1982). Europe and People without History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Zerner, C. (1994). "Through a green lens: The construction of customary environmental law and community in Indonesiaπs Maluku Islands." Law and Society Review. 28: 1079-1122.
The Society held its general business meeting on July 18, 1997, during the Seattle meeting. In brief: The Treasurer reported a May, 31 1997 balance of society funds of $19,954.86. Attempts will be made to raise more funds for student travel awards for future meetings. Concerns and reorganization of society procedures were discussed. Two of the three proposed by-laws changes were adopted. The first Marjorie Grene Prize was awarded. The results of the 1997 election were announced. Reports were received from the 1997 meeting Program Chair and Local Arrangements Chair. The 1999 meeting is scheduled to be held in Oaxaca, Mexico. Thanks were offered to Peter Taylor (President for the 1997 Meeting), Bob Richardson (Program Chair), and Keith Benson (Local Arrangements Chair). Please refer to the minutes below for details.
Minutes from the 1997 General Meeting
July 18, 1997
University of Washington, Seattle
The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by President Peter Taylor. Announcements: (1) Graduate students will gather after the meeting to elect the student representative to the Executive Council. (2) The Executive Council will meet after the general meeting. (3) Horace Judson, Department of History, George Washington University announced the availability of two 2-year post-doctoral positions in the Center for the History of Recent Science, for the 1997-98 academic year. Interested parties were asked to contact him. (4) The Darwin CD ROM will be demonstrated tomorrow and free CDπs are available at this time. (5) Darwin Papers may have a position available.
Minutes: It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the 1995 General Meeting as written and circulated earlier be accepted without change. The motion passed without dissent.
Treasurer's Report for 1 June 1995 - 31 May 31 1997: Ron Rainger, treasurer, reported that overall the organization is in a sound financial condition. At the end of the last reporting period, 31 May 1995, the closing total funds balance was $21,513.16. As of 31 May 1997, the closing total funds balance was $19,954.86. Expenses exceeded income by approximately $1500, due primarily to a significant reduction in income from member dues. Primary disbursements were for printing, copying and mailing the newsletter; bank fees for member dues paid by Visa or Mastercard; and student travel awards for the 1995 meeting. The primary source of income was member dues. Minimal contributions were received from members for the student travel fund. Contributions to support newsletter expenses were essentially nil. The significant reductions in 1995-1997 income from all sources as compared with 1993-1995 income is a concern. It was moved and seconded that the treasurer's report be accepted as submitted. The motion passed without dissent.
The treasurer recommended that dues remain unchanged for the next two years and that the society set aside $10,000 to assist with student travel to the 1999 meeting if funds are not available from other sources. Further, he recommended that the society apply to NSF for student travel funds for the 1999 and future meetings. Discussion followed. By a unanimous show of hands, members present agreed that they would pay $10 more a year if the additional funds were to be spent to support student travel to society meetings. It was moved and seconded that the council be asked to (1) pursue increasing dues by $10 per year for student travel, (2) set a goal of $10,000 or more for student travel awards, and (3) vigorously pursue a drive for additional member contributions and other sources for student travel funds. The motion passed without dissent.
Twenty-three students applied for student travel awards for attendance at the Seattle meeting. The member contributions of $870 plus $1800 from the society general funds were awarded to student applicants. A committee composed of Christiane Groeben, Helen Longino, Ron Rainger, and Paul Griffiths was appointed to seek ways to increase funds available for student travel awards for the 1999 meeting.
The first Marjorie Grene Prize was awarded to Judy Johns Schloegel. Her winning paper was titled "Sex and the Ciliate: Private Life and Social Behavior in Nineteenth- and Twentieth Century Microscopic Culture." The prize is intended to advance the careers of young scholars. The award consists of a certificate and $200 towards expenses incurred in attending the meeting and not reimbursed from other sources. The selection committee was composed of Marjorie Grene, Ron Rainger, and Jim Griesemer.
Current Society Organization: The major challenges before the society are that it is currently operating without a central organizing office and that difficulties can occur when the society depends upon members to carry out all society matters. As an example, in 1995 the society had 604 members who had paid their dues; currently the society has 204 members with dues paid. Richard Burian will chair a committee which will look at society administrative services and the possibility of transferring some of the administrative tasks to a professional organization. Initial action has been taken. The duties assigned to the secretary proved to be too extensive for one person to handle. Therefore, some duties were reassigned. The treasurer will handle the membership list. Chris Young will serve as newsletter editor and listserv moderator. In addition, Valerie Hardcastle will continue to handle the society web site.
John Jungck recommended that ISHPSSB affiliate with the Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences, appoint a liaison to the coalition, and establish a committee on education. It was moved and seconded that the recommendations were supported by the membership and should be pursued by the Board. The motion passed without dissent.
Election Results:
The following individuals were elected to office for 1997-1999:
- Richard Burian (President-Elect)
- Peggy Stewart (Secretary)
- David Magnus (Treasurer)
- Michael Dietrich (1999 Program Chair)
Directors-at-large elected for office from 1997-2001:
- Walter Bock
- Marilia Coutinho
- Cor van der Weele
Elizabeth Lloyd, former President-Elect, will serve as President from 1997-1999. Peter Taylor will serve as Past-President. Christiane Groeben, Paul Griffiths, and James Griesemer were elected in 1995 to serve as Directors-at-large from 1993-1997. Students will elect their representative directly following the general meeting.
By-Laws Revisions: Proposed changes for the by-laws were circulated to members in the spring 1997 newsletter. Action was taken on the proposed changes: (1) The proposed revision of ARTICLE II, 5. ANNUAL MEETING, was not brought to a vote because the revision would be in conflict with our understanding of incorporation requirements with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the site of ISHPSSB incorporation. (2) ARTICLE III, 13. Voting: the proposal to require that ballots be sent to the entire membership of the society no more than one hundred (100) days prior to the meeting" passed without dissent. The requirement had been for distribution of ballots no more than seventy (70) days. (3) ARTICLE III. EXECUTIVE AND OTHER COMMITTEES. The membership of the Nominating Committee was clarified to require that the membership be composed of "at least one other Director or officer of the Corporation, and other Members of the Society." The proposed revision was passed without dissent.
Report of Program Committee (Bob Richardson, chair): Two hundred and thirty people participated in the 1997 meeting. Attendance was reduced by a concurrent European meeting of historians. Principles for acceptance of papers include limiting individuals to presentation of no more than one paper plus participation as a commentator. It was suggested that the abstract submittal form be revised to include a space to indicate audio-visual needs so that the program chair can facilitate such requirements. A request was made that abstracts be published in Spanish as well as in English. Supporters were invited to formulate and submit a proposal to the council identifying means by which the meetings could be made more accessible to non-English speaking colleagues. Additional ideas for change and improvement of society meetings should be forwarded to Michael Dietrich, 1999 program chair.
A vote of appreciation for program chair Bob Richardson and the session chair was moved and seconded. The motion was passed enthusiastically and unanimously.
Report of Local Arrangements Committee (Keith Benson, Chair): Problems with having a meeting at a state university include the fact that faulty have little control over room assignments and that such lack of control led to rescheduling of room assignments from a single building to buildings spread over campus with coffee breaks and the book exhibit in yet a different building. The local arrangements chair need to be advised of needs for number of meeting rooms at least one year in advance of the meeting. Registration with credit card by e-mail proved to be the easiest way for local arrangements to handle registration.
1999 Meeting: Oaxaca, Mexico, has been selected as the site of the 1999 meeting. Ana Barahona is responsible for preliminary local arrangements. Housing will be in local hotels because there is no housing at the university. While there are a few direct flights, access for most participants will be with a connecting flight through Mexico City. A main concern is that the meeting site be wheel chair accessible. Members responsible for local arrangements will be asked to assure such accessibility prior to a final commitment on the part of the society to hold its 1999 meeting in Oaxaca.
2001 Meeting: The site of the 2001 meeting has not yet been selected.
Closing Comments: President Elizabeth Lloyd asked that members forward to her ideas for the society and the 1999 meeting. She is particularly interested in suggestions for ways to increase opportunities for discussion at the meetings.
A vote of appreciation was given to outgoing president, Peter Taylor, for his two years of service culminating in the very successful 1997 meetings.
Adjournment: As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Peggy Stewart, Secretary
New Student Representative
Karin Matchett (University of Minnesota) was elected by a group of graduate students who met at the meeting in Seattle. She will serve as a contact person for student input and concerns. She is also fluent in Spanish, which should aid in coordinating the 1999 meeting.
The following letter was received by the editor from an ISHPSSB member. The editor welcomes such commentary and will gladly print letters that address issues of importance to the society.
To The Editor:
It was very nice and beautiful to attend the ninth biennial meeting of ISHPSSB at Seattle, to see old friends, to make new friends, surrounded by the wonderful atmosphere with great salmon! However, I found one funny thing. One of the leaflets of publishing companies which displayed several books appealed the message to the "Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology" ---- they omitted the word "international."
I believe this was just a careless mistake with no other meaning. Nevertheless, I actually had the same question during the conference: "Was this really an international conference?"
Yes, ISHPSSB is international conference with a lot of participants from not only America, also from Europe, Mid-East, and Far-East ã almost all over the world. This means, hence, a great portion of attendants are NOT native English speakers. Nevertheless, I was afraid that only a few speakers were aware of the fact and spent an effort to establish more effective communication. Others just read their papers in a monotone, even very quickly! Unfortunately, such "just-read-a-paper" talks were so common. This was not just the opinion of myself alone: Many attendants from non-English speaking countries had similar complaints. Some of them also pointed out the "difficulties" to follow discussions which sometimes were carried out more rapidly.
I am afraid that such manner is rather discouraging for us, non-English speakers and also opposed to the aim and philosophy of presidential plenary session. Thus, I would like to propose the following two strategies:
1. Please use visual aids. Now we have slides, overhead projectors, and even videos. Diagrams and figures would be so helpful, but it is not always necessary to prepare such illustrations. Just summarize the contents of your paper and put them down into five or seven (not too many) lines on the transparency. That would be helpful enough to grasp your paper. If preparing overhead transparencies or slides is still hard for you, similar handouts may be useful.
2. Please do NOT read your paper. Yes, a "paper" should be "read," and if you are a student or post-doc, I know you must read more and more papers! But this phrase does actually not seem to be correct. Instead, a "talk" should be "presented" at a conference, especially an international one. You may need some notes or memos for your talk, but when you read the manuscript, you lose the flexibility and communication with audiences. Then, the difficulties for listeners are enormously bigger, as ten times or so.
I believe academicians in the United States have the good tradition of communicating with the public. Just applying such know-how is enough to create a truly "International" SHPSSB. Of course, it is also necessary for non-English speakers like myself, to polish up their own ability more and more. But please imagine our difficulties: we have to spend one or two hours everyday just to master English. Even after these efforts our ability of English would be far smaller than that of native speakers.
English is NOT an international language. Broken English is.
Osamu Sakura
Faculty of Business Administration
Yokohama National University
Tokiwadai 79-4, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240, Japan
E-mail:
Ana Barahona Echeverria on behalf of the Mexican "Committee" for the 1999 meeting (Carlos Lopez Beltran, Edna Maria Suarez, Sergio Martinez) We want to reassure ISHPSSB members that, due to the economic crisis in Mexico, meetings there will not be as expensive as USA and Europe. Today, three-star hotel rates are US $35 per night. This should compensate for any extra travel expenses that people have getting to Mexico. E-mail:
Mike Dietrich, 1999 Program Chair
Before the Seattle meetings have completely faded from memory, I wanted to ask for comments about the program and most importantly for suggestions for the 1999 program. Some people have already sent in suggestions and ideas for papers and panels, but I would like to hear from more of
ISHPSSB Website and Listserv Valerie Hardcastle, Web site administrator
The official ISHPSSB Website is located at: http://www.phil.vt.edu/ISHPSSB/
Missed the meeting in Seattle? Check out the program and abstracts on our web page! The web pages also contain the latest newsletter, instructions for how to subscribe to our listserv, and links to additional resources in science and technology. You can join ISHPSSB right over the web, as well as participate in a survey on the impact ISHPSSB has had in your professional life. You can access the site by typing the address into any web-browser (though Netscape is recommended for the graphics). Updated on a regular basis, the site now includes this newsletter, the 1997 program, and abstracts from the 1997 meeting in Seattle. Ideas for additional items to include are always welcome ã please forward them to Valerie Hardcastle; E-mail:
Chris Young, Listserv moderator
We have established a moderated e-mail list, "listserv," for the Society. The site is maintained with the help of the University of Minnesota's Program in History of Science and Technology. Any member interested in receiving mailings on this listserv should "subscribe" to the list by sending the following message: "SUBSCRIBE ISHPSB-L yourfirstname yourlastname" to:
By the way, the reason there is only one 'S' in our listserv name is because we were limited to 8 characters.
Once you subscribe to the list, your name and e-mail address will be added to the list and you will receive a verification. At that point, you can participate in conversations on the e-mail list. To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to:
The newsletter will also go out to the listserv. Every ISHPSSB member is encouraged to subscribe to the e-mail list to enjoy more frequent and rapid correspondence with other members. If you know other members who have not subscribed, please encourage them to do so. Of course, an e-mail list should not marginalize members whose internet access is limited, by location or by choice. The Society will continue its regular mailings.
Questions? Contact the listserv moderator, Chris Young, directly at:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Note: This section is not intended to provide an exhaustive listing of jobs, but when a position announcement is brought to the attention of the editor that closely matches the expertise of members of the society, it will be listed here.
Social Studies of Science
University of California, Davis, California
Tenure-track assistant professor, beginning Fall 1998. Duties include research, graduate and undergraduate supervision, committee service, and a teaching load of four quarter courses per year. Appointment in the Department of Anthropology, Economics, or Sociology. Research, teaching, and service divided equally between one of these core departments and the History & Philosophy of Science Program. HPS offers an undergraduate minor, coordinates HPS graduate training with Departments of History and Philosophy and with science studies students in other departments, and has proposed a new undergraduate major in Science, Technology, and Medicine Studies. The appointee must have Ph. D. and provide evidence of strength in research and teaching. Minority and women candidates are especially encouraged to apply. EO/AAE. Application deadline: December 1, 1997. Send CV, three letters of reference and a sample of written work to Professor James Griesemer, Chair, Search Committee, History & Philosophy of Science Program, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8673, USA. Telephone: (916) 752-1068. FAX: (916) 752-8964. Internet: http://hpslab.ucdavis.edu E-mail:
The College of Letters and Science at UC Davis is committed to building a more diverse faculty and student body as it responds to the changing population and educational needs of California and the nation. As a consequence, we are especially interested in attracting persons from groups currently underrepresented on the campus. Our commitment demands that, irrespective of age and/or sexual preference, we will pay special attention to applications from women, persons of color, and persons with disabilities.
Research Post
London School of Economics
The Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) at the London School of Economics is to set up a three-year project to research the evolution of the emotions with particular reference to psychopathology. The Centre is currently looking for a qualified senior researcher to direct the project. The project will involve: (1) Summarising and evaluating the latest theories relating to the evolution of the emotions, with a particular emphasis on the relevance of such theories to the understanding of mental disorders. (2) Formulating empirical tests of these theories, which it is hoped will be carried out by an appropriate organisation when the first phase of the project is completed. The CPNSS will be concerned exclusively with the analytical and conceptual part of the project, up to and including the phase of experimental design.
Administrative details
(1) The Research Officer will be employed for three years, and will receive a salary of £39,706 gross in the first year (£30,394 basic, plus London allowance, national insurance and superannuation), rising to £44,976 gross in the third year.
(2) The Research Officer will have the help of a research assistant and full secretarial backup.
(3) The Research Officer will be based at the CPNSS, which is also the home of the Darwin @ LSE programme. This exciting interdisciplinary programme organises regular seminars on all aspects of evolutionary theory, given by internationally recognised experts, and attracts a stream of visiting scholars.
Questions about this post should be addressed to Dylan Evans at the address/numbers below. Those who are interested in applying for the post may send a full CV. Dylan Evans, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Telephone: (+44) 171-955-6853. Fax: (+44) -171-955-6869. E-mail:
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
The Marsden Fund has supported a two year postdoctoral fellowship to work on a joint project with Kim Sterelny on "What is biodiversity?" This is a project in philosophy of biology, not environmental ethics. So philosophers with a strong background in philosophy of biology are invited to apply, though candidates with a background in biology will also be considered, so long as they can demonstrate appropriate philosophical competence. The salary will be in the range of $42,238 - $53,055 p.a., New Zealand dollars. But it is most likely that the offer will be towards the lower end of that range. Some support for moving expenses to Wellington may be available. For details of the project, those interested should contact Kim Sterelny by e-mail at
Darwin Multimedia CD-ROM Available
Lightbinders and ISHPSSB are pleased to make the following exclusive offer to teachers of Darwin, evolution, and the history to philosophy of science.
Lightbinders has recently finished the second edition of the Darwin Multimedia CD-ROM, (list price $49.95, ISBN: 1-889175-01-3). This remarkable disk is an integrated compilation of the major works of Charles Darwin. It also contains a selection of many of the lesser-known works, which can be difficult for even to most devoted Darwinian to obtain. Never before have these rare titles been presented together, let alone integrated by extensive cross-reference hyperlinks. Also included is the acclaimed Triumph of the Darwinian Method, written by renowned Darwin expert (and ISHPSSB member) Dr. Michael T. Ghiselin, and a video in which Sir David Attenborough narrates an appeal for the restoration and preservation of Down House, Darwin's residence.
A description of the disc can be seen at the Lightbinders web site (http://lbin.com).
Through ISHPSSB, we are offering free Darwin CD-ROMs to teachers who will evaluate it for use in their classrooms. So far, Lightbinders has given away nearly 250 copies, but orders for classroom use remain few. Interested teachers are asked to contact Pete Goldie, Ph. D., President, Lightbinders, Inc., 2325 Third Street ≠ Suite 324, San Francisco, CA 94107; Fax: (415) 621-5898. E-mail:
Member Subscription Rates
Two journals, Biology and Philosophy and Journal of the History of Biology, are available to ISHPSSB members at reduced rates. These journals are published by Kluwer Academic Publishers. The rates for the current year were not available at press time.
Society members interested in these special rates should send their subscription orders and payments to: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Distribution Centre, PO Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Members should include with their subscription requests a statement that they are ISHPSSB members and are requesting the member rate. The contact person in case of problems is Annie Kuipers, Acquisition Editor, Humanities & Social Sciences Division, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Spuiboulevard 50, P.O. Box 17 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Fax: +31(0)78-6392254. E-mail:
Member Directories
Members are invited to request a copy of the ISHPSSB Directory by sending a request to David Magnus, the Society secretary. The first copy is free. Members who would like a second copy of the directory are asked to forward a check for $3.00 payable to the Society to cover copying and mailing costs. The directory is updated at the beginning of each year; members submitting requests after February 1 will receive a copy of the latest directory.
Second International History of Philosophy of Science Conference
Conference Dates: 12-15 March 1998
Location: Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, University of Notre Dame
Conference Topics: History of Philosophy of Science
Guidelines for Submissions: Submission deadline has passed.
Contact: Cassandra Pinnick, Department of Philosophy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101
International Congress on Discovery and Creativity
Conference Sates: 14-16 May 1998
Location: University of Ghent (Belgium)
Conference Topics: Papers are welcomed on any logical or methodological aspect of discovery and creativity, in the sciences as well as in the arts. There will also be room for historical, sociological and psychological studies that are methodologically relevant. Papers may cover topics from the following (not exclusive) list: philosophical and methodological issues in the study of discovery and creativity; logical analyses that may contribute to our understanding of these issues; historical, psychological, sociological explanations of specific discoveries and creative processes; cognitive models of discovery and creativity; AI systems for discovery tasks. Authors must submit five printed copies and an electronic version (MS-Word or PostScript) of their abstract (max. 1000 words) not later than 15 December 1997. Inquiries: http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~jmeheus. ICDC p/a Dr. Joke Meheus, Vakgroep Wijsbegeerte, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Fax: +00 32 9 264.41.87. E-mail:
John Ray and His Successors: The Clergyman as Biologist
Conference Dates: 18-21 March 1999
Location: Braintree, Essex, UK
Conference Topics: A joint conference of the Institute of Biology's History Committee, the Society for the History of Natural History, and the John Ray Trust.
Guidelines for Submissions: Conference participants are invited to present papers. Please send an abstract (250 words) by 1 March 1998 to Rev. Nigel Cooper, The Rectory, 40 Church Road, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex CM8 3PQ, UK. Telephone (+44) (0) 1376 511161. E-mail for Nigel Cooper's attention on
BioScience
The journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, BioScience, "is looking for manuscripts on the history and philosophy of biology for its Thinking of Biology department,"according to a letter from Editor Julie Ann Miller to ISHPSSB's Peter Taylor. She writes, "The articles there must be written to appeal to biologists (rather than historians or philosophers). Contributors to the department include Sahorta Sarkar and Jon Beckwith." Contact: Julie Ann Miller, Ph. D., AIBS, 730 11th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-4521. Telephone: (202) 628-1500. E-mail:
Peter J. Taylor, Saul E. Halfon, Paul N. Edwards, editors, Changing Life Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities A fascinating look at how the culture of today's life sciences affects our culture. This volume arose out of the 1993 ISHPSSB Conference sessions "Changing Life in the New World Dis/order.≤
In laboratories all over the world, life ã even the idea of life ã is changing. And with these changes, whether they result in square tomatoes or cyborgs, come transformations in our social order ã sometimes welcome, sometimes troubling, depending on where we stand. Changing Life offers a close look at how the mutable forms and concepts of life link the processes of science to those of information, finance, and commodities.
The contributors, drawn from disciplines within science and technology studies and from geography, ecology, and developmental biology, provide a range of interpretive angles on the metaphors, narratives, models, and practices of the life sciences. Their essays ã about planetary management and genome sequencing, ecologies and cyborgs ã address actual and imagined transformations at the center and at the margins of transnational relations, during the post-Cold War era and in times to come. They consider such topics as the declining regulatory state, ascendant transnational networks, and capital's legal reign over intellectual property, life-form patents, and marketable pollution licenses.
Changing Life argues that we cannot understand the power of the life sciences in modern society without exploring the intersections of science and technology with other cultural realms. To that end, this book represents a collective attempt to join the insights of science and technology studies and cultural studies. As a work of cultural politics, it makes a contribution to changing life in a context of changing social order.
Contributors: Simon Cole, Cornell University; Scott Gilbert, Swarthmore College; Herbert Gottweis, University of Salzburg; Yrjˆ Haila, University of Tampere, Finland; Rosaleen Love, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia; and Richard A. Schroeder, Rutgers University.
Peter J. Taylor is Eugene Lang Professor of Social Change at Swarthmore College. Saul E. Halfon is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. Paul N. Edwards is acting assistant professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford University.
240 pages, Cultural Politics Series, Volume 13, Translation rights: University of Minnesota Press, $19.95 Paper ISBN 0-8166-3013-5 $49.95 Cloth ISBN 0-8166-3012-7 F 97 5 - 7/ 8 x 9 September 1997
Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin, editors, Ecology and Empire: The Environmental History of Settler Societies
ISHPSSB members might be interested to know that Edinburgh University Press in Scotland has just published a new book called Ecology and Empire: The Environmental History of Settler Societies, edited by Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin.
Ecology and Empire examines the relationship between the expansion of empire and the environmental experience of the extra-European world. For the first time it moves the debate beyond the North American frontier by comparing the experience of settler societies in Australia, South Africa and Latin America. From Australian water management and the crisis of deforestation in Latin America, to beef farming in the Transvaal, this topical book provides a broad comparative historical approach to the impact of humankind on the ecological systems on which settler societies base their livelihood.
If you are teaching a relevant course with at least 12 students, we will happily send you an inspection copy of this book. E-mail your details, including course name, number of students, and course level to
Jesper Hoffmeyer, Barbara J. Haveland, (Translator), Signs of Meaning in the Universe (Advances in Semiotics), Indiana University Press, 1997. Philosophy and Religion Editor's Recommended Book, July 1, 1997: Jesper Hoffmeyer is on to something significant. Whereas semiotics is often a dull analysis of formal symbols, Hoffmeyer's biosemiotics is a lively natural history of signs that interprets evolution as a continuous advance in semiotic freedom. All living things, according to Hoffmeyer, are constantly reacting to their environment by interpreting the signs in their own unwelt, or interior representation of the surrounding world. Freedom and chaotic self-organization thus become the hallmarks of all life. Based on sound research and written in a delightfully accessible style, Signs of Meaning in the Universe should be interpreted as an advance in both philosophy and science.
Card catalog description: For three and a half billion years the living creatures of the natural world have been engaged in an increasingly complex and extensive conversation. Cells, tissue, organs, plants, animals, entire populations and ecosystems buzz with communication, incessantly emitting and receiving signals. These signs have been there as long as life itself. They make up the semiosphere, a sphere like the biosphere, but one constituted of messages ã sounds, odors, movements, colors, electrical fields, chemical signals ã the signs of life. This book examines the radical premise that the sign, not the molecule, is the crucial, underlying factor in the study of life. On this tour of the universe of signs, Jesper Hoffmeyer travels back to the Big Bang, visits the tiniest places deep within cells, and ends his journey with us ã complex organisms capable of speech and reason. He shows that life at its most basic depends on the survival of messages written in the code of DNA molecules, and on the tiny cell ã the fertilized egg ã that must interpret the message and from it construct an organism. What propels this journey is Hoffmeyer's attempt to discover how nature could come to mean something to someone; indeed, how "something"could become "someone." How could a biological self become a semiotic self? And how, finally, do we unite these two different selves, "nature"and "mind"which we all carry in us and which all too often are at war with each other?
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Signifying: On lumps in nothingness, on "not≤
- 2. Forgetting: On history and codes: The dialectic of oblivion
- 3. Repeating: On Nature's tendency to acquire habits
- 4. Inventing: On life and self-reliance, on subjectivity
- 5. Opening Up: On the sensory universe of creatures: The liberation of the semiosphere
- 6. Defining: The mobile brain: The language of cells
- 7. Connecting: On the triadic ascendance of dualism
- 8. Sharing: On language: Existential bioanthropology
- 9. Uniting: Consciousness: The bodily governor within the brain
- 10. Healing: On ethics: Reuniting two stories in one body-mind
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Physical Theory in Biology
We are pleased to announce the publication of the above-mentioned book which probe into the physics of life and why it matters. The book is a scientific adventure in which biological understanding is enriched by physical theory without losing its own inherent traditions and perspectives. The book explores organic complexity and self-organization through research applications to embryology, cell biology, behavioral neuroscience, and evolution. The book is suitable for physical scientists, biologists, engineers, applied mathematicians, and philosophers. We are always eager to bring the book to the knowledge of more researchers and academics and would like you to help. Should you have any mailing lists or contacts to whom we might be able to send our information to, please kindly send them to us. Also, should you know or attend any good conferences at which we could promote our book, please do let us know. In addition, you might want to purchase a copy of this book for your own reference. Please do not hesitate to contact Er Bee Eng at
Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
A call for papers: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences is a new journal whose first issue will be published at the beginning of 1998. The journal will be devoted to historical, sociological, philosophical and ethical aspects of the life and environmental sciences, of the sciences of mind and behaviour, and of the medical and biomedical sciences and technologies. The period covered will be from the middle of the nineteenth century (the time of the so-called "laboratory revolution"in medicine and the life sciences) to the present.
The editorial policy will be in line with the policy of the parent journal, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Contributions will be drawn from a wide range of countries and cultural traditions; we shall encourage both specialist articles, and articles combining historical, philosophical, and sociological approaches; and we shall favour works of interest to scientists and medics as well as to specialists in the history, philosophy and sociology of the sciences. The table of contents of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science is available at the Elsevier Science Ltd web site at the following address: http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/3/0/5/8/6/30586.pub.shtml The editors are seeking original English language articles in the field of the new journal. For these the word limit is c. 10,000. They would also welcome proposals for 3-4000 word essay-reviews. Prospective authors should submit copies of papers in duplicate, typed and double-spaced (including quotations and footnotes) on quarto or A4 paper. They should retain a copy for the purpose of checking proofs. Illustrations are encouraged; authors should be prepared, if their paper is accepted, to supply good quality copies of any illustration and any necessary permissions for reproduction of copyright material. All articles and volunteered essay-reviews will be blind refereed.
Contributions and proposals should be sent to Dr. Marina Frasca-Spada, Associate Editor, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RH, U.K. E-mail:
Science as Culture
Science as Culture (No. 27, Vol. 6, Part 2) has now appeared in the US and will soon do so elsewhere. The editors hope that members of this forum will subscribe to the journal, which has a unique point of view in a world where most commentators on science, technology, medicine and other forms of expertise suffer from a remarkable timidity.
Contents
- "Inoculating Gadgets Against Ridicule," Mike Michael
- "The Corporate Suppression of Inventions, Conspiracy Theories, and an Ambivalent American Dream,"Stephen Demeo
- "Reducing AIDS Risk,"Simon Carter
- "Sperm Stories: Romantic, Entrepreneurial, and Environmental Narratives about Treating Male Infertility,"Kirsten Dwight
Reviews
- "Greening Public Policy: Sustainability and Beyond,"Dale Jamieson
- "The Enclosure of Nature and the Nature of Enclosures,"John Roosa
- "The Commodification of Seeds,"Dwijen Rangnekar
- "Virtual Struggles?"Don Parson
In future issues:
- "Designing flexibility: science and work in the age of flexible accumulation,"Emily Martin
- "Healthy bodies, healthy citizens: the anti-secondhand smoke campaign,≤ Roddy Reid
- "Israel's first test-tube baby," Daphna Birenbaum Carmeli
160 pages, Science as Culture is published quarterly by Process Press Ltd. in Britain: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/process.html and Guilford Publications Inc. in North America:
Society and Animals
The journal Society & Animals announces that it is expanding its scope to include historical studies, and encourages historians of science to submit manuscripts to the journal for consideration. Society & Animals publishes studies which describe and analyze our experience of nonhuman animals. It spans four broad areas: (1) applied uses of animals (research, education, medicine, and agriculture); (2) animals in the popular culture (entertainment, companion animals, animal symbolism); (3) wildlife and the environment; (4) sociopolitical movements, public policy and the law. Any current method within the scholarly traditions of the social sciences and humanities may be applied. Please contact: Kenneth Shapiro, Editor, P.O. Box 1297, Washington Grove, MD 20880-1297.
History of Psychology History of Psychology will begin quarterly publication early in 1998. It will be published by the American Psychological Association for its Division of the History of Psychology. Direct inquiries to: Michael M. Sokal, HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY, Department of Humanities and Arts, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609-2280 USA. Telephone: (508) 831-5712. Fax: (508) 831-5932. E-mail:
Web sites/E-mail Lists of Interest
Hayek-L on
The basic purpose of the Hayek-L list is to serve as a forum for scholarly discussions and as a clearing house for the distribution of information on academic conferences, publication opportunities, fellowship information, academic grants, and job openings of interest to Hayek scholars. Subscribers are encouraged to post questions, comments, or announcements of interest to individuals working on topics related to Hayek's writings. Appropriate postings might pertain to work currently in progress, the development of course materials, bibliographical material of interest to Hayek scholars, useful internet resources, etc.
The list is for scholars and others interested the ideas of Friedrich A. Hayek without restriction according to interest or professional affiliation. Hayek-L is not devoted to any particular niche within the scope of Hayek's oeuvre, but instead welcomes contributions on any aspect of the full range of Hayek's contribution to contemporary scholarship. Discussions of the scholarly contributions of other important thinkers who have developed or criticized aspects of Hayek's work are also welcomed. E.g. discussions of the work of Gerald Edelman, Karl Popper, Frank Knight, Ronald Dworkin, Joaquin Fuster, Walter Weimer, Robert Nozick, John Maynard Keynes, Leonid Horwicz and others related to the work of Friedrich Hayek are also welcome. To subscribe to Hayek-L, send mail to:
SUBSCRIBE HAYEK-L your full name
See also the Hayek Scholars Page at: http://members.aol.com/gregransom/hayekpage.htm
Robert Maxwell Young On-Line I am glad to announce that (with the aid of Helen Davies) I have put my first book on my web site: Mind, Brain and Adaptation in the Nineteenth Century: Cerebral Localization and Its Biological Context from Gall to Ferrier, (Oxford, 1970, 1990).
Although the title may look forbidingly technical and specialised, the book is an attempt to think about the relationship between mind and brain in the period from the first empirical to the first experimental work on the topic. Its net is cast broadly to include theories of human nature, evolution and the history of psychology. One way of viewing its inspiration is that I sought to look behind the approach Freud took in his first book, On Aphasia, (1901). Another is that I sought to explore the interrelations between biological and psychological theory in the nineteenth century ã the foundations of our present ways of thinking about these matters.
In addition to obtaining the rights to that book in order to put it on the net, I have placed four others on my web site: Darwin's Metaphor: Nature's Place in Victorian Culture, (Cambridge, 1985); Mental Space, (Process Press, 1994); Whatever Happened to Human Nature? (Process Press, in press); The Culture of British Psychoanalysis, (Process Press, forthcoming).
These books, along with about seventy articles and essays are available for reading or downloading at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/psysc/staff/rmyoung/papers/index.html Some more personal essays and information about the journals, Free Associations: Psychoanalysis, Groups, Politics, Culture and Science as Culture, along with the other existing and planned publications of Process Press, are available at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/psysc/staff/rmyoung/index.html There are facilities for sending comments and feedback at these sites. I shall continue putting my writings on the web until all of the substantial ones are there.
Robert Maxwell Young, Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies, University of Sheffield, 26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, UK. Telephone: (+44) 171 607 8306. E-mail:
Horus Gets in Gear
Professor Ronald Tobey has put his student guide to the History of Science on the World Wide Web. The guide is entitled Horus Gets in Gear: A Beginner's Guide to Research in the History of Science. It can be found at: http://www.kaiwan.com/~lucknow/horus/guide/tp1.html
H-SCI-MED-TECH
Announcing the inauguration of H-SCI-MED-TECH, an electronic discussion list intended for the growing number of scholars who study science, medicine and technology across a wide variety of periods and regions of the world. Our aim is to foster communication on these subjects within and across the disciplines of history, the history of science, the history of medicine and the history of technology, which have become distinct professional fields despite their obvious (and not so obvious) interconnections.
H-SCI-MED-TECH is one of 80+ discussion lists in history and the humanities sponsored by H-NET. Subscribers to will be able to share information about teaching and research, to get news of professional activities (e.g., jobs, conferences, fellowships and grants) and, most importantly, to participate in conversations about matters of common interest: new methods, new questions and new scholarship. The editors (Nina Lermann, Whitman College; Harry M. Marks, Johns Hopkins University; and Kathryn Olesko, Georgetown University) welcome your participation and views about what H-SCI-MED-TECH should be doing. To subscribe, send the following message: "subscribe H-SCI-MED-TECH your name, your institution"to:
Science as Culture
The journal Science as Culture has an associated e-mail forum:
To subscribe, send the following message:
SUB SCIENCE-AS-CULTURE yourfirstname yourlastname
to:
Dibner Institute Names Resident, Visiting and Postdoctoral Fellows For 1997-1998
The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology is pleased to announce the appointments of the Dibner Institute Fellows for 1997-1998. The Institute has appointed eighteen Resident, seven Visiting, and seven Postdoctoral Fellows. They come from several nations and pursue many different aspects of the history of science and technology.
The following eighteen persons have been appointed as Dibner Institute Fellows:
Kirsti Andersen, Associate Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, is the author of Brook Taylor's Work on Linear Perspective. A Study of Taylor's Role in the History of Perspective Geometry, Including Complete Facsimiles of His Two Books on Perspective, 1992. She has also translated several key sources in the history of mathematics into Danish. At the Dibner Institute she plans to prepare for publication her many papers on the history of mathematical theory of perspective, 1435 to the end of the 18th century, and also to begin a study on the history of logarithms.
Henk J.M. Bos is Extraordinary Professor in the History of Mathematics at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Following the completion this summer of a large monograph entitled "Descartes and the Early Modern Traditions of Geometrical Problem Solving, he will continue work on a sequel concerning the new mathematics of the period.
John K. Brown, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, has written The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, published in 1995, and Limbs on the Levee: Steamboat Explosions and the Origins of Federal Public Welfare Regulations, 1817-1852, published in 1989. His project while at the Dibner Institute is titled "The Forges of Industry: Capital Equipment Builders in 19th-Century America.≤
Alan Chalmers, Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Australia, is the author of Science and its Fabrication and many articles including "Cartwright on Fundamental Laws,"in Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 74 (1996) and "Ultimate Explanation in Science,"Cogito, 9 (1995). At the Dibner Institute he plans to continue work on a broad history of atomism from Democritus to Einstein, tentatively titled "An Epistemological History of Atomism.≤
Anne Fausto-Sterling, Professor of Medical Science and Women Studies at Brown University, is the author of Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Women and Men. Her next work entitled, "Body Building: How Biologists Construct Sexuality,"will be published in 1997. At the Dibner Institute she will work on a book titled "Edwin Grant Conklin: Embryologist and Eugenicist.≤
W. Alan Gabbey, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, Barnard College, is the author of "The Principia Philosophiae as a Treatise in Natural Philosophy,"in Descartes: Principia Philosophiae (1644-1994), eds. Jean-Robert Armogathe and Giulia Belgioioso; and "Spinoza's Natural Science and Methodology"in The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza, ed. Don Garrett, 1996. At the Dibner Institute he will continue work on a book provisionally titled, "Machines and the Spirits Within: Problems of the Mechanical Philosophy in the Early Modern Period.≤
Yung Sik Kim, Professor in the Program in History and Philosophy of Science at Seoul National University, Korea, is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Natural Philosophy of Chu Hsi (1130-1200)." His most recent articles in English are "Chu Hsi on Calendar Specialists and Their Knowledge: A Scholar's Attitude toward Technical Scientific Knowledge in Traditional China,"T'oung Pao, 78 (1992) and "Another Look at Robert Boyle's Acceptance of Mechanical Philosophy: Its Limits and Its Chemical and Social Contexts,"Ambix: International Journal of History of Alchemy and Chemistry, 38 (1991). While at the Dibner Institute he will continue his research on neo-Confucian natural philosophy and natural knowledge.
Ursula Klein is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University and at the Max-Planck Institute f¸r Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Germany. She is the author of Verbindung und Affinit‰t. Die Grundlegung der neuzeitlichen Chemie an der Wende vom 17. zum 18. Jahrhundert and "The Chemical Workshop Tradition and the Experimental Practice. Discontinuities within Continuities,"Science in Context , 9 (1996). At the Dibner Institute she will explore the introduction of chemical formulas into chemistry.
Larry Laudan, Visiting Researcher, Instituto de las Investigaciones Filosoficas, National University of Mexico, is the author, most recently, of The Book of Risks, Beyond Positivism and Relativism, and the forthcoming Italian translation of Science and Relativism. At the Dibner Institute he will continue work on the third section of a book about the relation between theory and evidence, in which he will explore the differences, if any, between observational and experimental evidence.
Rachel Laudan is the author of From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science 1650-1830; with A. Donovan and L. Laudan; Scrutinizing Science: Empirical Studies of Scientific Change; and "Natural Alliance or Forced Marriage? Changing Relations Between the Histories of Science and Technology,"Technology and Culture, 36 (1995). In her work at the Dibner Institute she will continue her investigations for a work entitled "Chemistry Applied: Physiology and Dietetics 1650-1800.≤
Jesper L¸tzen is Professor of Mathematics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the author of Joseph Liouville 1809-1882: Master of Pure and Applied Mathematics; "Interactions between Mechanics and Differential Geometry in the 19th Century,"Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 49, (1995); and "Heinrich Hertz and the Geometrisation of Mechanics,"to appear in Heinrich Hertz: Classical Physicist, Modern Philosopher, ed. Baird D. Huges, R.I.G., and Nordmann. At the Dibner Institute he will continue his work on Hertz's mechanics.
Bruce Pourciau, Professor of Mathematics at Lawrence University, is the author of "Reading the Master: Newton and the Birth of Celestial Mechanics,"The American Mathematical Monthly, January, 1997; "Radical Principia,"and "Newton's Solution of the One-Body Problem,"Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 44 (1992). The projects he will pursue at the Dibner Institute are titled "The Early Mathematical Lemmas of the Principia"and "Intuitionism: A Kuhnian Perspective on a Failed Revolution.≤
MiklÛs RÈdei is Associate Professor in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at Lor·nd Eˆtvˆs University, Hungary. He is the author of Introduction to Quantum Logic; "Is there superluminal causation in relativistic quantum field theory"in Perspectives on Quantum Reality: Relativistic, Non-Relativistic and Field Theoretic, and "John von Neumann ã der mathematische Physiker,"in Jenseits von Kunst ed. P. Weibel. In his work at the Dibner Institute he will continue his studies for a biography of John von Neumann, the Hungarian-born mathematician and mathematical physicist. He will also edit a collection of essays about von Neumann as well as unpublished p
apers by him. Silvan Schweber, Professor of Physics and the History of Ideas, Brandeis University, is the author of QED and the Men who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga; "La Crisi delle Scienze Fisiche,"Kos X, April (1994), and, with Cathryn Carson, "Recent Biographical Studies in the Physical Sciences,"Isis, 85 (1994). He will continue his work on a biography of Hans Bethe while he is at the Dibner Institute.
Hourya Sinaceur is Directeur de recherche de lËre classe au CNRS de Paris, France. She is the author of Jean CavaillËs. Philosophie mathÈmatique and Corps et ModËles. Essai sur l'histoire de l'algebre rÈelle. At the Dibner Institute she will continue her research on Emmy Noether's influence and contributions in mathematics at Gˆttingen before her emigration to the United States.
Roger Smith, Reader in History of Science, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, is the author of Inhibition: History and Meaning in the Sciences of Mind and Brain and the forthcoming "The Fontana History of the Human Sciences." His project while at the Dibner Institute is titled "The Ethos of Pure Science and the Conceptual Framework of Anglo-American Brain Science in the Interwar Decades.≤
Mark Steiner is Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University, Israel. He is the author of "Wittgenstein: Mathematics, Regularities, Rules,"in Benacerraf and his Critics, ed. Adam Morton and Stephen Stich; "The Applicabilities of Mathematics,"Philosophia Mathemetica, 3.3 (1995); and the forthcoming book, "The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem." At the Dibner Institute he will continue his study of purely formal analogies in the history of recent scientific discoveries.
David Wilson, Professor of History, Iowa State University, is the author of Kelvin and Stokes: A Comparative Study in Victorian Physics ; "P.G. Tait and Edinburgh Natural Philosophy, 1860-1901,"Annals of Science, 48 (1991); and the editor of the two-volume Correspondence between Sir George Gabriel Stokes and Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. While at the Dibner Institute he will continue work on a book tentatively titled "Natural Philosophy in the Scottish Enlightenment."
The following seven persons have been appointed as Dibner Institute Visiting Fellows, fellows whose appointments are for less than a full academic term:
Martin Campbell-Kelly, Reader in Computer Science, University of Warwick, United Kingdom, has written (with William Aspray) Computer: A History of the Information Machine and ICL: A Business and Technical History. At the Dibner Institute he will continue his writing on L.J. Comrie and the early development of volume production of mathematical tables by the company Comrie established in 1937, Scientific Computing Service Ltd.
Noah Efron is a Research Scholar at Harvard University. He is the author of the forthcoming article, "Jewish Thought and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe: A Review Essay,"Journal for the History of Ideas and, with Menachem Fisch, "Dean Simonton's åScientific Genius': A Review, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 13 (1991). At the Dibner Institute he will continue work on a project entitled "Jews, Christians and Natural Philosophy in Early Modern Europe."
Jean Eisenstaedt, ChargÈ de Recherches at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, is the author of "L'optique balistique newtonienne ‡ lÈpreuve des satellites de Jupiter,"Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 50 (1996) and "Guido Beck in General Relativity," Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencas, 67, Supl. 1 (1995). His work while at the Dibner Institute will be on the subject "Arago and the Prehistory of Relativity."
Craig Fraser, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada is the author of Calculus and Analytical Mechanics in the Age of Enlightenment . He will submit for publication in 1997, "Calculus of Variations 1806-1916. Historical Studies." His project while at the Dibner Institute is titled "The Theory of Elasticity in 19th Century Exact Science."
Donald C. Jackson, Associate Professor of History at Lafayette College, is the author of Building the Ultimate Dam: John S. Eastwood and the Control of Water in the West and Great American Bridges and Dams. While at the Dibner Institute he will continue his research on non-federal dam construction and on the promotion of gravity dams by John R. Freeman.
George Saliba, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Science, Columbia University, is the author of A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam and the forthcoming "The Final Quest in the Correction of Astronomical Principles, a critical edition of Ibn al-Shatir's åNihayat al Sul fi Tashih al-'Usul." His research at the Dibner Institute will be devoted to a work entitled "Arabic Science in Renaissance France: Guillaume Postel and Arabic Planetary Theories."
George Stocking, Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Conceptual Foundations of Science at the University of Chicago. He is the author of After Tylor, British Social Anthropology, 1888-1951; The Ethnographer's Magic and other Essays in the History of Anthropology; andVictorian Anthropology. Professor Stocking is founding editor of the annual, History of Anthropology. At the Dibner Institute, he will explore the history of anthropology between World War II and the late 1960s in a project titled "Anthropology Yesterday."
The Dibner Institute has made the following seven Postdoctoral Fellowship appointments.
Joseph Dumit has been an NIMH Research Fellow in the Department of Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and a Lecturer in Anthropology at MIT this past year. He was the co-editor, with Gary Lee Downey and Sharon Traweek, of the forthcoming book, "Cyborgs and Citadels: Anthropological Intervents in Emerging Sciences and Technologies"and wrote the chapter, "A Digital Image of the Category of the Person, PET Scanning and Objective Self-Fashioning." During his appointment he will continue work on an historical study entitled, "Drawing on Circuits: Diagramming Brains, Minds and Computers (1930-1990)."
Tal Golan will receive his Ph. D. from the Department of History, University of California at Berkeley in April 1997. The title of his dissertation is "Science on the Witness Stand: Expert Testimony in U.S. Courts, 1870-1923." At the Dibner Institute he will continue his investigation of the relations between the expanding scientific and legal cultures in late 19th and early 20th century America.
Sungook Hong is Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of "Styles and Credit in Early Radio Engineering: Fleming and Marconi on the First Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy,"Annals of Science, 53 (1996) and "Syntony and Credibility: John Ambrose Fleming, Gugliemo Marconi, and the Maskelyne Affair," Archimedes, 1 (1996). The title of his project while at the Dibner Institute is "A Social History of Radio: From Marconi's Black-Box to the Triode Revolution, 1890-1920."
David McGee received his Ph. D. from the University of Toronto and is now a Lecturer at Mount Allison University, Canada. He is the author of the forthcoming "Before the Revolution: Building a Historical Model of Design in Technology,"Technology and Culture and "Making up Mind: The Early Sociology of Invention, Technology and Culture, 36 (1995). His research while at the Dibner Institute is titled "The Trouble with Science: Science, Design and Britain's First School of Naval Architecture."
Jessica Riskin, Assistant Professor, Iowa State University, wrote her dissertation, The Quarrel over Method in Natural Science and Politics during the Late Enlightenment, on the relations of scientific and political thought and culture in the Enlightenment. She is the author of an article entitled "Meaningless Names and Eloquent Things in the Chemistry of the Enlightenment." Her work at the Dibner Institute will be for a book titled "The Defecating Duck, or Scenes from the Early History of the Idea of Automation."
Dorit Tanay is a Lecturer in the Department of Musicology, Tel Aviv University, Israel. She is the author of "The Image of Music and the Body of Knowledge in the Late Middle Ages: Rhythmical Procedures as Cultural Representation,"Science in Context, 9 (1996) and "Jehan de Meur's Rhythmic Theory and the Mathematics of the 14th Century," Tractrix, 5 (1993). Her project while at the Dibner Institute is titled "Music and the Transgression of Boundaries: A Re-evaluation of the Interrelationship between Music and Science in the 17th Century."
James R. Voelkel is Head Teaching Fellow, Department of History of Science, Harvard University. He is the author of "The Importance of Tycho Brahe: A View from America,"in Tycho Brahe Stj‰rnornas Herre, 1996 and the following contributions to The Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution (in press): "Astronomy,""Longomontanus, Christian Severin,""Praetorius, Johannes,"and "Rheticus, George Joachim."His current project is to publish the findings from his dissertation, The Development and Reception of Kepler's Physical Astronomy, 1593-1609, in book form as well as to continue working on an annotated translation of the Kepler-Fabricius correspondence.
MEMBERSHIP & RENEWAL INFORMATION
To join ISHPSSB or renew your membership contact Society Secretary David Magnus or fill out the form on the Society's Website:
http://www.phil.vt.edu/ISHPSSB/member.html
Existing members need to renew if the mailing label on the most recent newsletter has 1996 or earlier on the bottom line. If you think the information in the membership files is out of date (e-mail addresses seem especially volatile), please provide the new information. Graduate students qualify for a reduced membership fee ≠ only US$ 10 for two years. Emeritus members pay no fee. Otherwise a regular membership is US$ 35 for two years.
All checks must be in US$; payment by Visa/Mastercard is welcome. Credit card payments can be sent electronically. (As far as we understand this is relatively safe ≠ as safe as the postal service, maybe safer ≠ since everything is automatically encrypted.) Receipts for payment will be sent out, but to reduce administrative costs, this will be done only if requested. If paying by credit card, your monthly credit card statement should serve as your receipt.
Mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers for Council members and for all committee chairs are given below.
Elisabeth Lloyd
ISHPSSB President 1997-99
6350 Arlington Boulevard
Richmond CA 94805 USA
Phone: (510) 642-4597; Fax: (510) 642-4164
E-mail:
Peter Taylor, Chair
Past-President 1997-99
Swarthmore College
Department of Biology
Swarthmore, PA 19081
E-mail:
Richard Burian
President-Elect 1997-99
Department of Philosophy
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0126
Phone: (540) 231-6760; Fax: (540) 231-6367
E-mail:
Michael Dietrich
Program Chair, 1999 Meetings
History and Philosophy of Science Program
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616-8673
E-mail:
Ana Barahona
Zapate # 6 - 9
Col. Miguel Hidalgo
Tlalpan 14410
Mexico
E-mail:
David Magnus
Treasurer and Membership Secretary
University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics
3401 Market Street, Room 320
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 898-7136
E-mail:
Peggy Stewart
Secretary
3900 Glengarry Drive
Austin, TX 78731
E-mail:
Karin Matchett
Student Representative History of Science and Technology
435 Walter Library
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
E-mail:
Chris Young, Newsletter Editor
History of Science/Natural Philosophy
Mt. Angel Seminary
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Phone: (503) 845-3557; Fax: (503) 845-3126
E-mail:
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE SPRING 1998 NEWSLETTER
The next issue of the ISHPSSB newsletter will be published in Spring 1998. Please send submissions (preferably via e-mail) to the editor, Chris Young,
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Last updated: 16 December 1997.