The Evolutionary Synthesis

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9321370 Smocovitis One of the most significant but least understood events in the recent history of science is the evolutionary synthesis which developed around the time of World War II. Under this grant, Dr. Smocovitis is investigating how the synthesis might best be seen in the context of the emerging discipline of evolutionary biology--the area of biology which is frequently thought to be the "central organizing principle" or "central metaphor" of the modern biological sciences. This process of discipline formation in turn took place within larger efforts to unify the biological sciences in this period. Dr. Smocovitis has organized this study in several parts. One component involves examination of the merging discipline in the context of positivist efforts to unify knowledge. She is examining the question to what extent, and exactly how, the "architects" of the evolutionary synthesis inherited and accommodated these global efforts to unify knowledge. She is also documenting how positivist epistemology shaped their vision of legitimate science through methodological concerns such as the adoption of experimental methodologies, choice of study organism, and the application of quantitative methods to the historical science of evolution. Another component of the study involves a look at the emerging discipline itself through the organizational and institutional efforts to unify and legitimate evolutionary studies in the US. The final component of this study is an examination of political, ethical, and national concerns of the interwar period such as the desire to formulate a meaningful evolutionary world view. This project promises not only to shed light on this significant episode in the history of western science, but will also make transparent the historically rooted, context-bound, and humanistic features of scientific knowledge. ***