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CALL FOR PAPERS
BIENNIAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR
THE HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND SOCIAL STUDIES OF
BIOLOGY (ISHPSSB)
EXETER (GREAT BRITAIN), JULY 25-29, 2007
Since its inception, the International Society
for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies
of Biology (ISHPSSB) has brought together
scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to
discuss historical, conceptual, epistemological,
political, institutional, and ethical issues of
the life sciences in an open and informal
setting. Over the past twenty-odd years,
attendance has increased from about 60
participants to about 350 in Guelph, 2005. In
2007, we hope to continue our tradition of an
inclusive and experimental approach, while
meeting the challenge of increased attendance.
Scholars wishing to attend the meeting are now
invited to submit session and paper proposals on
the ISHPSSB website (visit
<http://www.ishpssb.org/meeting.html>http://www.ishpssb.org/meeting.html).
Deadline for submissions is February 15, 2007,
and abstracts should not exceed 500 words. Please
also note the guidelines for paper acceptance
that have been adopted by the Society.
To facilitate communication in advance of
submission, the ISHPSSB website also offers the
possibility to post ideas for sessions and
discussion panels electronically
(<http://www.ishpssb.org/phorum/list.php?9>http://www.ishpssb.org/phorum/list.php?9).
If you are interested in putting together a
session or discussion panel by posting a call for
contributions electronically, we urge you to
specify a deadline for responses to you
personally.
While individual paper submissions are welcome,
we strongly encourage submission of session and
panel discussion proposals. For the 2007 meeting,
we especially seek sessions that
* are innovative and cross-disciplinary in content and/or format;
* strengthen the lines of communication among
historians, philosophers, social scientists, and
biologists;
* open conversations that lead to new ways of
thinking about the life sciences and the
disciplines that study it;
* bring together people of different disciplinary and national backgrounds.
The Society is open to proposals on any topic
connected with the history, philosophy and social
studies of the life sciences. For the 2007
meeting, we would especially welcome sessions in
the following areas:
* Interdisciplinarity. Recent years have seen the
foundation of interdisciplinary centres for the
study of the life sciences and their social,
legal, and ethical implications in a number of
national contexts. At the same time there is a
trend towards disciplinary segregation that has
also been felt during the ISHPSSB meetings in
recent years. What explains these trends of
disciplinary specialization? Are historians,
philosophers, and social scientists heading in
similar directions, or are they heading far
afield from one another? Is the pressure on
biology studies to become 'policy relevant'
acting against or actually encouraging
specialization? Why do history, philosophy, and
sociology of science tend to drift apart, while
disciplines become less and less important in the
life sciences themselves?
* Anthropology of the Life Sciences. Recent years
have seen a number of attempts to employ the
empirical methods and the conceptual tools of
social anthropology in the study of the life
sciences, especially with respect to the effects
of new reproductive technologies on conceptions
of kinship and identity. Is there such a thing as
an 'anthropological approach' to the life
sciences, and if so, what could it look like? And
is this indeed the field, as some of its
protagonists claim, where historical,
sociological, and philosophical studies of the
life sciences could join hands to adequately
reflect the complex, hybrid formations in which
biological knowledge is produced today?
* Biology and Politics. From William Harvey's
theory of blood circulation to Rudolf Virchow's
cell theory, from Darwin's theory of evolution to
present day conceptions of the genome as 'our
common inheritance' -- biological themes have
always resonated with political ones. What is the
impact that novel biological theories and
practices have had on conceptions of human
identity and agency, especially in the contested
areas of sex/gender and race/ethnicity? And how
do political agendas and contexts shape research
in the life sciences?
* Systems Biology. Recent years have seen an
upsurge of systemic approaches in biology that
try to make sense of the vast amounts of data
that have been accumulated by the genome
sequencing projects and other data-gathering
exercises. Systemic approaches have a long
history in biology. But do their recent
counterparts actually signal a return to a more
holistic biology, or are we in fact witnessing
the complete takeover of mechanism and
reductionism in biology? And does systems biology
raise new ethical, legal, and social challenges?
* Biology beyond the Evolutionary Synthesis. A
lot of scholarly attention, especially in the
philosophy of biology, has been invested into the
interpretation and evaluation of evolutionary
theory. Large areas in the biomedical sciences,
however, are concerned with data collection or
the elucidation of mechanisms and functions,
activities that seem to gain little, if anything,
from evolutionary speculations. Moreover, it
becomes increasingly evident that the large
majority of organisms, especially microorganisms,
do not fit the standard model of speciation. How
would a broader perspective on the life sciences
affect our understanding of life?
The basic time unit for sessions will be 90
minutes; sessions encompassing two such units
(but not more) are welcome, as long as there are
at least five formal participants over the two
sessions. We encourage innovative formats. If
you are interested in proposing a session with an
unusual format (e.g., with pre-circulated papers
or requiring an unusual room format or special
equipment), please contact us so we can make sure
it is feasible.
If you have any ideas, questions, or suggestions,
please contact the program officers. Email
contact is strongly preferred, but if you do not
have access to it, you may also send letters via
regular mail. If you write by e-mail, please make
sure to include the term ISHPSSB in your subject
line.
Staffan Müller-Wille
ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society
University of Exeter
Amory Building, Rennes Drive
Exeter EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science
Boltzmannstr. 22
D-14195 Berlin
Germany
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
*** End of announcement
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Professor Roberta L. Millstein
Listserv Moderator, International Society for
History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology
<http://www.ishpssb.org/>
Listserv archives: <http://lists.umn.edu/archives/ishpsb-l.html>
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