Bridging the Two Cultures: History and Philosophy of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

架起两种文化的桥梁：生态学和进化生物学的历史和哲学

• 批准号: 0724686
• 负责人: Thomas Miller
• 金额: $ 41.27万
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0724686&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bridging; Two; Cultures; History; Philosophy

Two distinct groups of scholars engage in the process of building scientific knowledge: scientists and the humanists who study science (philosophers, historians, etc.). Despite potential synergy among these groups of scholars, the most fundamental disciplinary rift in modern academic training is between the sciences and the humanities. Science and the humanities differ not just in professional language, but also in their very cultures and modes of communication (e.g., style of writing, publication format, conventions of oral presentation). These differences present barriers to communication and collaboration that are detrimental to progress in each of these fields. Intellectual merit. The objective of the proposed program in the History and Philosophy of Biology is to bring together historians and philosophers of biology with biologists studying ecology and evolutionary biology. Interdisciplinary teams of graduate students, a postdoctoral fellow, and faculty mentors will engage in original research in the history or philosophy of ecology and evolutionary biology. Graduate students and postdocs will also participate in courses, workshops and seminars that involve faculty and students from all departments. Outcomes of interdisciplinary research will include publishable papers, presentations at local and national meetings, and graduate students with an unusual breadth of training. Graduates of this program will have the tools to allow them to conduct stronger research in their own fields, be better educators and communicators, and act as leaders in collaborations between the various disciplines that study science. Further, this education and research program will serve as a starting point for a permanent interdisciplinary program for graduate students across History, Philosophy, and Biology at Florida State University. This will build upon an existing foundation of interactions between a recently established History and Philosophy of Science Program and the long-standing Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate program at Florida State University. Broader Impacts. Through this fellowship program, nine graduate fellows and three postdoctoral fellows will receive training in research methods within and outside their disciplines. Through collaborative research and coursework, these fellows will gain a broader perspective on their own fields. This will produce students who will be leaders in future collaborative research, and teachers who can train the next generation of students to work across the science/humanities boundary. By focusing student attentions on the history and philosophy of ecology and evolutionary biology, the proposed program will also encourage research into the nature of the science at the heart of important current policy issues such as global warming, transgenic organisms, and the teaching of evolution. We foresee this program continuing as a permanent program at Florida State University. An improved understanding of the nature of these sciences will facilitate effective communication of the findings of these sciences to the public and to policy makers. Finally, there will be aggressive recruitment of excellent graduate student and postdoctoral fellows from among underrepresented groups, increasing diversity in our graduate and postdoctoral populations.

两个不同的学者群体参与构建科学知识的过程：科学家和研究科学的人文主义者（哲学家，历史学家等）。尽管这些学者群体之间存在潜在的协同作用，但现代学术培训中最根本的学科分歧是科学和人文学科之间的分歧。科学和人文不仅在专业语言上不同，而且在文化和交流模式上也不同（例如，写作风格、出版格式、口头陈述的惯例）。这些差异给沟通和协作带来了障碍，不利于这些领域的进步。智力上的优点。在生物学的历史和哲学拟议计划的目标是汇集生物学的历史学家和哲学家与生物学家研究生态学和进化生物学。研究生，博士后研究员和教师导师的跨学科团队将从事生态学和进化生物学的历史或哲学的原创性研究。研究生和博士后也将参加课程，讲习班和研讨会，涉及教师和学生从所有部门。跨学科研究的成果将包括可发表的论文、在地方和国家会议上的演讲以及接受过不同寻常的广泛培训的研究生。该计划的毕业生将有工具，使他们能够在自己的领域进行更强的研究，成为更好的教育工作者和传播者，并在研究科学的各个学科之间的合作中担任领导者。此外，这个教育和研究计划将作为一个永久的跨学科计划的起点，为研究生在佛罗里达州立大学的历史，哲学和生物学。这将建立在最近建立的历史和科学计划的哲学和长期的生态学和进化生物学研究生课程在佛罗里达州立大学之间的互动现有基础。更广泛的影响。通过该奖学金计划，9名研究生和3名博士后研究员将接受其学科内外研究方法的培训。通过合作研究和课程，这些研究员将获得对自己的领域更广阔的视野。这将产生谁将在未来的合作研究领导者的学生，和教师谁可以培养下一代的学生跨越科学/人文学科的边界工作。通过将学生的注意力集中在生态学和进化生物学的历史和哲学上，拟议的项目还将鼓励对全球变暖、转基因生物和进化论教学等当前重要政策问题核心的科学本质的研究。我们预计这个项目将继续作为佛罗里达州立大学的一个永久项目。加深对这些科学性质的理解将有助于向公众和决策者有效地传播这些科学的研究成果。最后，我们将从代表性不足的群体中积极招募优秀的研究生和博士后研究员，增加我们研究生和博士后人口的多样性。