Project Description
Acknowledgements
Staff
Project Members
Workshops
Documents

Project Description

Phase 1 2002-2004
Philosophers and historians have made competing claims about the conceptual structures that underlie the many different usages in of the term 'gene' in different fields of contemporary biology. Previous research by the P.I has established that claims in this field can be operationalized and tested by statistical analysis of questionnaire data obtained from populations of working biologists. The objective of this study is to agree, in cooperation with leading researchers in the field, valid operationalizations of both key competing claims and key consensus claims, and to conduct tests of these claims. The project will take the form of a workshop of leading researchers to agree on research questions and operationalizations, followed by subject recruitment, data collection and data analysis. A second workshop is planned to discuss the results and to prepare analyses for publication. The potential impacts of this project include facilitating research by all workers in the field by providing a large body of data as a freely available resource. The project will lead to progress in understanding how various gene concepts contribute to the forms of biological research in which they figure. It may reveal deficiencies in current conceptualizations of the gene. It will have implications for work on the public understanding of genetics. Finally, the project will have methodological benefits, developing a style of investigation that may be of value for other scientific concepts.

Phase 2 2003-2005
A study of the interaction between conceptualizations of genetic elements and the process by which the results of genomics are disseminated to wider audiences, in collaboration with the ESRC Center for Genomics in Society (EGenIS) at the University of Exeter, UK. It is expected that representations of the same findings based on different conceptualizations of genetic elements and their action will result in significantly different understandings on the part of those wider audiences. It is further expected that the process of dissemination will have systematic effects on which conceptualisations of genetic elements and their activities are used to communicate findings to wider audiences.

Phase 1 of the project is supported by a grant from the Science and Technology Studies Program of the National Science Foundation with cost sharing from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. Additional support is provided by a GAP Grant from the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), University of Pittsburgh. Administrative and logistical support is provided by University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR), Center for Philosophy of Science and Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

Phase 2 is supported by a grant jointly from from the Science and Technology Studies program and Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science, and Technology program of NSF. Administrative and logistical support is provided by University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR), Center for Philosophy of Science and Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Staff

Dr Paul E. Griffiths (PI) Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department for the History and Philosophy of Science, 1017 Cathedral of Learning, 624-5879 email

Dr Karola C. Stotz (Research Associate Phase 1, Co-PI Phase 2) University of Pittsburgh, Department for the History and Philosophy of Science, 601 UCSUR, 121 University Place, 624-9177 email

Project Members

External Participants

• Richard Burian, Philosophy, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
• Raphael Falk, Genetics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
• Thomas Fogle, Biology, Saint Mary's College, IN
• Scott Gilbert, Biology, Swarthmore College, PA
• Jim Griesemer, Philosophy, University of California, Davis, CA
• Jonathan Kaplan, Philosophy, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, TN
• Evelyn Fox Keller, Science and Technology, MIT, MA
• Rob Knight, Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
• Brendan Larson, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
• Lenny Moss, Philosophy, Notre Dame, IN
• Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
• Jason Scott Robert, Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax N.S., Canada
• Sahotra Sarkar, Biology and Philosophy, University of Austin, TX
• Kenneth Schaffner, Medical Humanities, George Washington University,
• Ken Waters, Philosophy, University of Minnesota, MN

• Ingo Brigandt, HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Megan Delahanty, HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Jim Lennox, Director of the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh
• Alan Love, HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Sandy Mitchell, HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Sean O'Connor, Bioethics & Health Law, University of Pittsburgh
• Robert Olby, HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Lisa Parker, Bioethics & Health Law, University of Pittsburgh
• Jeff Schwartz, Anthropology and HPS, University of Pittsburgh
• Jim Tabery, HPS, University of Pittsburgh

Workshops

Workshop 1 2003
Workshop 2 2004
Workshop 3 2005

Workshop 2 2004
University of Pittsburgh, February 20-22 2004. Presentation and discussion of results from Phase 1. Discussions with members of EGenIS.

Workshop 3 2005
University of Exeter, 2005. Presentation of results from Phase 2.

Documents

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Full Description of Phase 1 (PDF)

How Biologists Conceptualise Genes(PDF)
This paper reporting the results of a previous study conducted in Australia in 1999-2000 has been accepted for publication in Studies in the History and Philosophy C: Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences.

Note: A series of papers derived from Workshop 1 were presented at ISHPSSB 2003 and will appear as a special issue of the journal History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences.