Technical Concepts and Contexts of Olfaction: c.1700-c.1900

嗅觉的技术概念和背景：c.1700-c.1900

• 批准号: 0352801
• 负责人: Thomas Staley
• 金额: $ 10.17万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fixed Amount Award
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-06-01 至 2006-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0352801&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Technical; Concepts; Contexts; Olfaction; c.1700

This project is an historical investigation into scientific and technological approaches to the sense of smell in the 18th and 19th centuries. Five interrelated trends in this history will be examined: (1) the influence of pre-Enlightenment understandings of olfaction on later technical endeavors; (2) natural philosophical inquiry into the sense of smell in the British and French Enlightenment and its impact on the growth of the human sciences; (3) disciplinary developments related to olfaction in the natural sciences, especially chemistry; (4) the craft traditions involved in-and subsequent industrialization of-the production of odoriferous substances; and (5) interest in olfaction in the context of the life sciences. These topics have received sparse treatment in the critical literature on conceptual and practical approaches to sensation and perception. Technical approaches to olfaction and odor will be approached in the same spirit as recent STS work in the genre known as biography of scientific objects. The object in question smell (here meaning both the sensory mode and the phenomenon itself) will be characterized using a series of six important historical vantage points, each emphasizing a particular aspect of the same ongoing story. These episodes will illuminate, in context, the work of such important figures in olfactory science as Linnaeus, Fourcroy, Cloquet, Zwaardemaaker, and Ramon y Cajal. In addition, institutional trends in the various disciplines and enterprises related to smell will be examined, using this set of discrete vantage points to highlight different perspectives. This study will emphasize both philosophical and historical themes in conjunction. The philosophical aspect will accentuate the role attributed to olfaction as a potential and actual source of knowledge, and the consequences of this role for theories of knowledge production. The detailed historical account will demonstrate the abiding technical interest in smell in the past three centuries and describe the gradual development of related theories, practices, and techniques. A better understanding of past developments related to smell has the potential to influence a number of fields. While experientially and emotionally powerful, olfaction has often been ignored or derided in both technical and philosophical circles. Recently, new work in STS has begun to redress some of this inattention, but the base of expertise in the United States remains underdeveloped given the many potential areas of impact. Smell provides a valuable perspective from which to approach questions about the fundamental role of epistemic instruments in the sciences, and the possible distinctions between representation and reality and between subjective and objective experience. Furthermore, the material-chemical nature of olfaction makes it of special interest in historical and conceptual studies of chemistry, helping to connect this area of inquiry quite directly to issues of epistemology, ontology, and the philosophy of technology. Thus, broader impacts of funding this work will include: (1) fostering of interdisciplinary connections among different perspectives on science and technology; (2) significant contributions to under-examined topics in STS; and (3) promotion of international dialogue on important historical and conceptual issues that have, until lately, been disregarded in this country.

该项目是对18世纪和19世纪嗅觉科学和技术方法的历史调查。 在这段历史中，将考察五个相互关联的趋势：（1）启蒙运动前对嗅觉的理解对后来技术努力的影响;（2）英国和法国启蒙运动中对嗅觉的自然哲学探究及其对人文科学发展的影响;（3）自然科学中与嗅觉有关的学科发展，特别是化学;（4）涉及到的工艺传统和随后的工业化生产的气味物质;（5）在生命科学的范围内对嗅觉的兴趣。 这些主题在关于感觉和知觉的概念和实践方法的批判性文献中得到了稀疏的处理。嗅觉和气味的技术方法将与最近STS在科学对象传记中的工作一样。 我们将使用一系列六个重要的历史Vantage点来描述所讨论的对象气味（这里指的是感官模式和现象本身），每个观察点都强调同一个正在进行的故事的一个特定方面。 这些情节将在上下文中阐明嗅觉科学中重要人物的工作，如Linnaeus，Fourcroy，克洛凯，Zwaardemaaker和Ramon y Cajal。 此外，还将研究与气味相关的各个学科和企业的机构趋势，利用这组离散的Vantage位置来突出不同的观点。这项研究将强调哲学和历史主题相结合。哲学方面将强调嗅觉作为知识的潜在和实际来源的作用，以及这种作用对知识生产理论的影响。 详细的历史叙述将展示在过去三个世纪中对气味的持久技术兴趣，并描述相关理论，实践和技术的逐步发展。 更好地了解过去与气味有关的发展有可能影响许多领域。 虽然嗅觉在经验和情感上都很强大，但在技术和哲学界却经常被忽视或嘲笑。最近，在STS的新工作已经开始纠正这种忽视，但在美国的专业知识基础仍然欠发达的许多潜在的影响领域。 他提供了一个有价值的视角来探讨认识工具在科学中的基本作用，以及表征和现实之间以及主观和客观经验之间的可能区别。 此外，嗅觉的物质化学性质使其在化学的历史和概念研究中特别感兴趣，有助于将这一领域的研究与认识论，本体论和技术哲学的问题直接联系起来。因此，资助这项工作的更广泛的影响将包括：（1）促进科学和技术不同观点之间的跨学科联系;（2）对STS中未得到充分研究的主题作出重大贡献;（3）促进就重要的历史和概念问题进行国际对话，直到最近，这些问题在这个国家一直被忽视。