The Everyday Practice of Science

本申请要求支持准备一本书长度的手稿，题为：“科学的日常实践。”这本书将面向科学家、教育工作者、政策制定者和对科学感兴趣的普通公众。对生物医学研究实践的清晰理解对科学法规、政策、教育以及公众对科学的理解具有重要意义。大多数对科学的描述都是由哲学家和历史学家从理论角度出发，或由社会学家和人类学家从文化角度出发。相比之下，PI的观点是

This application requests support for preparation of a book-length manuscript entitled: "The Everyday Practice of Science." The proposed book will be directed towards scientists, educators, policy makers, and the general public interested in science. A clear understanding of the practice of biomedical research has important implications for science regulation, policy, and education as well as the public understanding of science. Most descriptions of science have been written from a theoretical perspective by philosophers and historians or from a cultural perspective by sociologists and anthropologists. In contrast, the PI's point of view is engagement in everyday practice. The resulting description of science embraces intuition, creativity, and passion without abandoning logic, objectivity and method. Moreover, the PI integrates his description of practice with exploration of the ethical dimensions of practice, thereby blending his roles as professor of cell biology and director of the ethics in science and medicine program at UT Southwestern. The first part of the book will offer a general description of practice by focusing on discovery, credibility, and self interest. Discovery means learning new things about the world; credibility means convincing one's peers that the discoveries are correct; self-interest influences every step of the process. The second part of the book will focus on specific aspects of practice relating to human research, genetics, and the relationship between science and other ways of practicing the world. If this application is funded, then the PI intends to devote 30% of his time over the next three years to write the proposed book.