Postdoctoral Fellowship: Exploring Ideas of Cooperation in the Biological Sciences During the Interwar Period

该奖项支持一名博士后研究员对生物学项目的历史进行研究，该项目侧重于两次世界大战期间（1919 - 1939）开发的各种不同的合作理念。他的主要目标是了解是什么推动了这项强调合作的工作，以及这项工作的性质。他将使用一组驱动问题和一个研究计划来做到这一点，该计划利用了三种方法，如下所示。他将探讨的问题如下。什么是面向合作的思维？在何种程度上和以何种方式共同关注合作和相关想法？除了"合作"之外，还有哪些术语能反映这种想法？是什么促使研究人员在这一特定历史时期研究合作的生物学本质和意义？这些思想是如何随着时间的推移而发展的，这一时期有什么独特的特征吗？该项目的成果将通过传统和数字出版物、会议和课堂进行传播。它们将面向科学家、学者和一般阅读大众。博士后将利用他在数字历史方面的广泛培训和经验来设计一个博客，展示相关的文件，照片，故事和这个项目中出现的新奇事物。该网站将向用户介绍以前被忽视的美国生物学和国际关系方面。该项目的一个工作假设是，尽管两次世界大战期间的生物学家使用不同的标签来描述合作行为，包括整体论、统一论、涌现论和有机论，但他们有一个共同的潜在目标，即为合作提供生物学解释，即部分如何作为协调的整体聚集在一起。博士后计划通过研究这一代不同领域的生物学家如何推进关于社会性和合作（而不是竞争）的进化和性质的理论，来关注这一目标的一个特定方面。他的主要目标是了解这些生物学家如何以及为什么投入了巨大的努力和精力来更好地理解社会冲动的起源。他将通过对这一时期的科学、社会、文化和政治细节进行仔细研究，以更深入地了解合作的思想。他将使用档案研究，计算方法，并与当前的研究人员在生物社会系统的互动，以揭示什么生物学家说今天的合作，以比较两个不同的时间框架合作的想法;比较既可以告知历史研究，并告知当前的概念。

This award supports the research of a post-doctoral fellow on a history of biology project that focuses on a variety of different ideas of cooperation that developed during the interwar period (1919-1939). His primary goal is to understand what motivated the work that emphasized cooperation, as well as the nature of that work. He will do so using a set of driving questions and a research plan that utilizes three approaches, which are indicated below. Among the questions that he will pursue are the following. What was cooperation-oriented thinking? To what extent and in what ways was there a shared focus on cooperation and related ideas? What terms in addition to "cooperation" capture this thinking? What motivated researchers to study the biological nature and significance of cooperation during this particular historical period? How did the ideas develop over time, and are there unique features that characterize this period? The results of this project are to be disseminated through both traditional and digital publications, at conferences, and in classrooms. They will be aimed at scientists, scholars, and the general reading public. The postdoc will use his extensive training and experience in digital history to design a blog that showcases pertinent documents, photographs, stories, and novelties that arise out of this project. This website will introduce users to previously overlooked aspects of American biology and international relations. A working hypothesis of the project is that although biologists during the interwar period used different labels for cooperative behavior including holism, unity, emergence, and organicism, they shared a common underlying goal; namely, to provide a biological explanation for cooperation, of how parts come together as coordinated wholes. The postdoc plans to focus on a specific facet of this goal by examining how this generation of biologists across different fields advanced theories about the evolution and nature of sociality and cooperation (as opposed to competition). His primary goal is to understand how and why these biologists devoted enormous effort and energy to better understanding the origin of social impulses. He will do so by engaging in a close study of the scientific, social, cultural, and political details of the period to obtain a deeper understanding of the ideas of cooperation. He will use archival research, computational methods, and interactions with current researchers in biosocial systems to bring to light what biologists are saying about cooperation today to compare ideas of cooperation across two different time frames; the comparison can both inform the historical study and inform current conceptions.