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PSA
Newsletter: Volume 8 : Number 4: September 2002
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Edited
for the Philosophy of Science Association by
Malcolm
Forster, http://philosophy.wisc.edu/forster
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IN MEMORIAM: Robert Clifton (1964-2002). Please honor his memory by reading the
memorial notice in the
1. FELLOWSHIPS: University
of
2. NATIONAL
SCIENCE FOUNDATION. Recent changes at
NSF. See letter below.
3.
LETTER from Michael Ruse requesting help from philosophers of biology in
writing an article for Encyclopedia Britannica. Details below.
4. CALL
FOR PAPERS. Graduate
Student Workshop, Virginia Tech STS, 2003.
"Technologies/Moralities: The Ethical Grammar of Technological Systems" Abstracts
due:
5. PSA
2002,
6. CONFERENCE:
12th. International Congress of Logic Methodology and Philosophy of Science,
Website: http://www.uniovi.es/Congresos/2003/DLMPS/.
Deadline for abstracts of
contributed papers:
7. DIRAC
CENTENARY CONFERENCE,
8. GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE: Mephistos
2003 - A Graduate Student Conference on the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, Technology, and Medicine.
Webpage: http://philosophy.wisc.edu/Mephistos2003/
Deadline for submissions:
Please
note that as in previous years significant financial
help will be offered to those participating in the conference.
9. CALL
FOR PAPERS: ISHPSSB 2003, International Society for the History, Philosophy,
and Social Studies of
Biology.
10. LECTURE
SERIES. University of
11. COLLOQUIUM. University of
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FURTHER DETAILS:
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1. FELLOWSHIPS: The
University of Pittsburgh Center for the Philosophy of
Science invites you to apply for a one or two semester Fellowship in
Residence. Applications for the first, or for both semesters of the 2003—2004 academic
year are due no later than
Center
for Philosophy of Science
817 Cathedral of Learning
Arrange to have your referees send letters for you by the appropriate
deadline.
Fellowships include a well supplied
office with computer support and other services, access to libraries,
eligibility for enrolment in an excellent, and relatively inexpensive health
program,. A monthly
stipend to cover relocation costs including housing of up to $1,200.00 per
month is also provided.
Visiting fellows pursue their
scholarly interests in an intellectually rich environment free of teaching and
administrative duties in the company of leading scholars in the philosophy,
history, rhetoric, and sociology of science, and related subjects. The Center sponsors lectures and workshops
(often two or more per week) and provides unlimited opportunities for
conversation. Visiting fellows are welcome
to attend lecture and seminar courses and conferences at the
The University boasts excellent
libraries and collections including the Archives of Scientific Philosophy which
houses the unpublished writings, correspondence and personal libraries of Reichenbach,
Sellars, Salmon, De Finnetti,
Ramsey, Carnap, and Hempel. The Center is located in the midst of a
community of world renowned philosophers, historians, and scientists. The departments of Philosophy and History and
Philosophy of Science are housed 2 floors above the Center. All of the members of both departments are
affiliated with the Center as Resident Fellows.
Within a short walk is Carnegie Melon University (CMU) whose philosophy
department collaborates closely with the Center. Also nearby are a major medical school,
research and teaching hospitals including a major center for organ transplants,
and a number of laboratories, institutes and academic departments are engaged
in groundbreaking work in psychology, neuroscience, physics, computer science,
artificial intelligence, and a host of other areas.
For further information write Jim Bogen, care of the Center, or email (jbogen@pittl.edu).
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2.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. Letter from the National Science Foundation, from Bruce E.
Seely, Program
Director for Science and Technology Studies.
Another transition is occurring at the Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Program at NSF. As summer ends, I am completing a two-year turn as
"rotator" and returning to Michigan Tech. Keith Benson,
formerly executive secretary of the History of Science Society (1993-2000),
becomes the new program director on August 19. Keith earned his
doctorate at
I would like to take this opportunity to do two things. First, I want to
provide a brief report on the status of the STS program and some of the
prospects it faces. Second, I want to remind readers of this newsletter
about the funding opportunities available from the STS program.
The STS Program in 2002: In fiscal year
2002, the STS program received about 190 proposals, and made 39 grants for scholars awards, conferences, fellowships, and training
grants, as well as 19 dissertation improvement awards. The program
supported this number of proposals by carefully pruning proposal budgets. The
program's total budget was just over $3.9 million, an increased of only 0.9 percent
over the previous year.
But there are potentially important developments in the offing at the NSF's Social
Science Directorate that could have a significant impact on all social science
activities, including the STS program.
First, Richard Lempert has arrived as the Division
Director for Social and Economic Sciences from the
* Continuing to encourage STS scholars to make greater contributions to
research on the societal implications of emerging science, engineering, and
technology, especially in areas targeted by Foundation-wide initiatives. An
aspect of this development is the encouragement of more collaborative projects,
including multi-campus projects, since most STS scholars continue to pursue
investigator-initiated projects, and to work as individuals.
* Developing greater opportunities for
infrastructure projects -- which in the STS program generally have been large
documentary and editorial projects. Additional support would allow
expansion of support for digital libraries and other tools relying upon
electronic resources.
* Expansion of the Small Grants for
Training and Research -- a tool that has not been fully utilized by graduate
programs in our field.
* Additional support for the core fields
of history of science and history of technology, philosophy of science, and
social studies of science. Too many budgets have had to be trimmed, and even
then some good projects cannot be supported at all. Moreover, the core
fields continue to show healthy intellectual development, with many new ideas
emerging and growing. Philosophers of science, for example, are devoting
attention to the philosophy of psychology, stimulated in part by scientific
advances in cognitive neuroscience and the development of brain scanning
technology. And in the history and social studies of science and technology, a
number of scholars are focusing on the senses, examining such topics as smell,
sound, noise, touch, music, and visualization. At the same time, work in
traditional areas remains strong, with some of the most exciting projects in
the past couple of years focused on the medieval and early modern periods.
In short, the field and the program seem
to be in pretty good shape, and to face exciting prospects. Stay tuned as
the Social Sciences Directorate attempts to develop a research initiative that
could provide the funding for these and other areas of research and
scholarship.
Funding Opportunities
The STS program eagerly welcomes proposals from scholars in the history of
science and the history of technology, in the philosophy of science, and in the
social studies of science. The STS Program has two target dates for the
submission of proposals every year. The next submission date is
The support to scholars working on science and technology studies takes several
forms. STS Scholars Awards are the usual mode for supporting research
projects. These awards normally provide support to individual researchers
for part or all of an academic year, for summer
research, or for some combination of academic year and summer. Collaborative
Research grants are similar, but allow for the cooperative efforts of two or
more investigators. The STS program also provides Postdoctoral
Fellowships for scholars within five years of the award date of their doctoral
degrees, and Professional Development Fellowships for more senior scholars
seeking to acquire expertise in science and engineering (for humanists and
social scientists) or in history, philosophy and social studies of science (for
engineers and scientists). Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants
allow graduate students to meet research expenses not normally available
through the student's university. Small Grants for Training and
Research (competition for these awards is only in the fall) offer up to
three years of support for sustained research efforts on an important issues
for the STS community by providing support for a group of graduate students and
postdoctoral fellows. Finally, the Program provides partial support for
Conferences and Workshops, usually national or international
conferences, symposia, and research workshops. Information on specific requirements
and any budgetary and programmatic limits can be found in the program
announcement on the STS home page (http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/ses/sts/start.htm)
or directly at http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf01159
. Also, please pay attention to the various
documents linked to this page that offer suggestions and ideas about proposal
preparation and writing.
A variety Foundation-wide funding opportunities also exist that could be of
interest to the STS community of scholars. The most important of
these are the Information Technology Research (ITR) and Nanoscale
Science and Engineering (NANO). For several years, NSF has been
supporting research that examines the societal implications of emerging science
and engineering fields, and these two programs currently are the largest
sources of new funding at NSF. STS scholars are better equipped
than almost anyone else to study the societal implications of these cutting
edge science and engineering fields. I am hopeful that historians,
philosophers, and scholars working on the social studies of science will submit
funding requests. Last year, two exploratory awards for NANO
research were made to research teams headed by Davis Baird (philosophy of
science,
Two final notes
Evaluation Criteria
The NSF has for several years required that all proposals be evaluated using
two primary criteria: the scientific merit of the project and its broader
impact. The latter category can include the value of a project to
scholars in other fields, or to the general public;
linkages to educational activities; general public outreach;
or the extent to which a proposal helps draw under-represented minorities into
science and engineering. The important point is that not only should reviewers
pay attention to these elements, but beginning in October, both categories must
be addressed in the project summary or the proposal will be returned without
review. It is recognized that some projects will be stronger in the
second review criteria than others, but all proposals must comment upon both
elements.
Thanks
I owe a special thanks to all of you who have helped the STS program by
providing reviews of proposals. The Program relies upon your expert
judgment, your judicious comments and suggestions, your careful evaluations.
Graduate students continue to tell us, for example,
that your comments on their dissertation proposals were among the most
useful assistance and comments they received in developing their research
projects. I have not always been as timely in acknowledging your help as
I should, so let me publicly thank everyone who has reviewed for
us. And please continue to help us when we ask. The panel and
the program really need your reviews.
I owe a larger debt to
the STS Advisory Panel members who have assisted me in so many ways. Most
of them serve three years, meeting twice a year to read and rank the projects
you submit. But I have also leaned on them for advice and suggestions of
many kinds, and learned so much from them about the various professional groups
that share the intellectual umbrella of the STS program. They
deserve all of your thanks, but mine especially. They've been great! So
thank you all!
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3.
LETTER from Michael Ruse requesting help from philosophers of biology in
writing an article for Encyclopedia Britannica.
Michael Ruse
To all fellow
philosophers of biology:
I have agreed to write a
substantial essay (15,000 words), on the philosophy of biology, for the next
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Tempting though it is to devote
the first half of my essay to the early works of Michael Ruse and the second
half of my essay to the later works of that same author, I think truly I should
be giving a full and fair overview of the field as it is today. To that
end, I am soliciting advice from anyone and everyone who cares to reply.
Could you take just a few moments to answer three questions for me.
First, could you tell me
what topics do you think should be covered? Laws,
theories, teleology, reduction, molecular biology, evo-devo,
sociobiology, gm foods, or what. Limit your answer to no more than
ten suggestions. (Note that my suggestions are split between those that
are generally philosophical and those more specifically biological.
Follow your own inclinations on this.)
Second, please list for
me up to ten publications by people other than you or me (books, articles,
theses, etc) that you think are really good.
Third, list three
publications by yourself of which you are really proud.
Please, please, please,
do not exceed these numbers. The essay must be completed by early next
year, and frankly I am not going to plough through lists of a hundred. Do
not send publications. I can get them myself.
Accept my thanks now, and
please do circulate this letter to anyone who might be interested –
however important or humble.
Michael Ruse
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QUICK
LINKS:
PSA
2002,
PhilSci
Archives: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/
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END OF PSA NEWSLETTER
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ENDNOTES:
-------------
A. The purpose of this newsletter
The
PSA Newsletter is published electronically on an "as needed" basis by the
Philosophy of Science Association to disseminate information. The newsletter is moderated and is restricted
to information pertinent to members of the Association (e.g., official business
of the Association, information about upcoming meetings or other information
likely to be of interest to a broad range of membership). It is not intended for ongoing discussions of intellectual topics
within philosophy of science.
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