American Life: Biologists and the Shaping of a Nation

美国生活：生物学家和国家的形成保利教授正在研究美国生物学史和北美生物史之间的相互关系，目的是澄清美国生物学家的目标与国家目标的联系程度。保利教授希望描绘美国生命科学发展的生物基础，揭示生物学家的活动如何影响该大陆的生物（植物、动物和人类），并展示这些相互作用如何影响生物学家的身份、工作经验和社会关系。该项目将解释生物学和生物学家如何在解释和推进美国的独特性方面发挥关键作用。更具体地说，保利教授认为，美国生物学家的长期目标是在一个独特的、似乎具有可塑性的地理环境中共同适应不同的种群。他描述了三个运动：1)一小群科学家建立了一个官僚化的网络，该网络将与联邦政府合作，识别和管理北美大部分地区的植物、动物和人类种群。2)然后，实验室生物学家转向新的研究课题，这些课题似乎在智力上更深入，个人也更充实；这项学术工作很快导致了对自然组织与民主组织之间联系的重大反思。3)最后，生物学家寻求新的途径来有效地影响美国人口。他们在农业、医药、优生学和教育领域发现了不同的挑战。保利教授的研究突出表明，生物学在很多方面都是一门有争议的、不明确的科学。它的定义和边界存在争议。生物学家似乎把研究对象和他们自己混为一谈了。生物学家涉及诸如进化、性和活体解剖等有争议的观点和实践，导致他们与公众的关系困难。普遍知识主张与国家事实和利益之间的关系模糊不清。保利教授认为，这些困难并不是负债；相反，它们形成了科学和政治创造力的关键资源。

A. PROJECT SUMMARY American Life: Biologists and the Shaping of a Nation Professor Pauly is examining the interrelations between the history of American biology and the biohistory of North American with the aim of clarifying the degree to which the goals of American biologists have been linked to national goals. Professor Pauly hopes to delineate the biotic foundations of the development of the life sciences in the U.S. to uncover how biologists' activities affected the continent's organisms (plant, animal, and human), and to show how these interactions influenced biologists' identities, work experiences, and social relations. The project will explicate how biology and biologists were pivotal in interpreting and advancing what was singular about America. More specifically, Professor Pauly argues that the enduring aim of American biologists was to coadapt diverse populations within a unique and seemingly malleable geographic setting. He describes three movements: 1) A small group of scientists built a bureaucratized network that would, in conjunction with the federal government, identify and manage the plant, animal, and human populations of much of North America. 2) Then, laboratory biologists turned to new subjects of inquiry that seemed intellectually deeper and personally more fulfilling; this academic work soon led to significant reflections regarding the links between the organization of nature and the organization of democracy. 3) And finally, biologists sought new paths through which they could effectively influence American populations. They found different challenges in agriculture, medicine, eugenics, and education. Professor Pauly's research highlights the variety of ways in which biology was a contested and unclear science. Its definition and boundaries were contested. Biologists seemingly conflated thinking about their objects of study and themselves. The involvement of biologists with such contentious ideas and practices as evolution, sex, and viv isection led to difficult relations with members of the public. The relations between universal knowledge claims and national facts and interests were obscure. Professor Pauly argues that these difficulties were not liabilities; rather they formed crucial resources for scientific and political creativity.