Walter W. Powell, Kelley Packalen, and Kjersten Whittington
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148670
- eISBN:
- 9781400845552
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148670.003.0014
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter examines eleven regions in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s that were all rich in resources—ideas, money, and skills—which might have led to the formation of life sciences ...
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This chapter examines eleven regions in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s that were all rich in resources—ideas, money, and skills—which might have led to the formation of life sciences clusters. Yet only three of the regions—the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and San Diego—developed into robust industrial districts for biotechnology. Most research on the emergence of high-tech cluster samples on successful cases and traces backward to find a developmental pattern. In contrast, rather than read in reverse from a positive outcome, the chapter builds networks forward from their early origins, revealing three crucial factors: organizational diversity, anchor tenant organizations that protect the norms of a community and provide relational glue across multiple affiliations, and a sequence of network formation that starts with local connections and subsequently expands to global linkages.Less
This chapter examines eleven regions in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s that were all rich in resources—ideas, money, and skills—which might have led to the formation of life sciences clusters. Yet only three of the regions—the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and San Diego—developed into robust industrial districts for biotechnology. Most research on the emergence of high-tech cluster samples on successful cases and traces backward to find a developmental pattern. In contrast, rather than read in reverse from a positive outcome, the chapter builds networks forward from their early origins, revealing three crucial factors: organizational diversity, anchor tenant organizations that protect the norms of a community and provide relational glue across multiple affiliations, and a sequence of network formation that starts with local connections and subsequently expands to global linkages.
Walter W. Powell and Jason Owen-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148670
- eISBN:
- 9781400845552
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148670.003.0015
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter follows the trajectory of the life sciences into the present day, focusing on the larger question of industry or field evolution. In a field characterized by “gales of creative ...
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This chapter follows the trajectory of the life sciences into the present day, focusing on the larger question of industry or field evolution. In a field characterized by “gales of creative destruction,” the chapter considers how some types of organizations have managed to retain a position of centrality even as others exit and many newcomers arrive. It analyzes the emergence of a core group of organizations, diverse in form and function, which they label an “open elite.” The animating question is why this group of organizations, which constituted a structural backbone of the field, did not become ossified gatekeepers but remained active in expansive exploration. The answer is found in their multiconnectivity—the multiple, independent pathways that link research-focused organizations in a wide array of different activities.Less
This chapter follows the trajectory of the life sciences into the present day, focusing on the larger question of industry or field evolution. In a field characterized by “gales of creative destruction,” the chapter considers how some types of organizations have managed to retain a position of centrality even as others exit and many newcomers arrive. It analyzes the emergence of a core group of organizations, diverse in form and function, which they label an “open elite.” The animating question is why this group of organizations, which constituted a structural backbone of the field, did not become ossified gatekeepers but remained active in expansive exploration. The answer is found in their multiconnectivity—the multiple, independent pathways that link research-focused organizations in a wide array of different activities.
Stefan Helmreich
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164809
- eISBN:
- 9781400873869
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164809.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
What is life? What is water? What is sound? This book investigates how contemporary scientists—biologists, oceanographers, and audio engineers—are redefining these crucial concepts. Life, water, and ...
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What is life? What is water? What is sound? This book investigates how contemporary scientists—biologists, oceanographers, and audio engineers—are redefining these crucial concepts. Life, water, and sound are phenomena at once empirical and abstract, material and formal, scientific and social. In the age of synthetic biology, rising sea levels, and new technologies of listening, these phenomena stretch toward their conceptual snapping points, breaching the boundaries between the natural, cultural, and virtual. Through examinations of the computational life sciences, marine biology, astrobiology, acoustics, and more, the book follows scientists to the limits of these categories. Along the way, it offers critical accounts of such other-than-human entities as digital life forms, microbes, coral reefs, whales, seawater, extraterrestrials, tsunamis, seashells, and bionic cochlea. It develops a new notion of “sounding”—as investigating, fathoming, listening—to describe the form of inquiry appropriate for tracking meanings and practices of the biological, aquatic, and sonic in a time of global change and climate crisis. The book shows that life, water, and sound no longer mean what they once did, and that what count as their essential natures are under dynamic revision.Less
What is life? What is water? What is sound? This book investigates how contemporary scientists—biologists, oceanographers, and audio engineers—are redefining these crucial concepts. Life, water, and sound are phenomena at once empirical and abstract, material and formal, scientific and social. In the age of synthetic biology, rising sea levels, and new technologies of listening, these phenomena stretch toward their conceptual snapping points, breaching the boundaries between the natural, cultural, and virtual. Through examinations of the computational life sciences, marine biology, astrobiology, acoustics, and more, the book follows scientists to the limits of these categories. Along the way, it offers critical accounts of such other-than-human entities as digital life forms, microbes, coral reefs, whales, seawater, extraterrestrials, tsunamis, seashells, and bionic cochlea. It develops a new notion of “sounding”—as investigating, fathoming, listening—to describe the form of inquiry appropriate for tracking meanings and practices of the biological, aquatic, and sonic in a time of global change and climate crisis. The book shows that life, water, and sound no longer mean what they once did, and that what count as their essential natures are under dynamic revision.
Lee Cronk and Beth L. Leech
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154954
- eISBN:
- 9781400845484
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154954.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter summarizes the book's findings regarding cooperation, coordination, and collective action as well as adaptation and the role that organizations play in fostering cooperation. It first ...
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This chapter summarizes the book's findings regarding cooperation, coordination, and collective action as well as adaptation and the role that organizations play in fostering cooperation. It first considers four vignettes, each highlighting a contrast between a situation in which cooperation did occur and one in which it did not: water as a common-pool resource, grassroots justice in Tanzania, slave rebellions, and coordinated and uncoordinated air traffic. It then offers some observations regarding the relationship between the social and life sciences, with particular emphasis on consilience, emergence, and the scientific division of labor. The chapter explains how consilience is made possible by emergence and cites the study of cooperation as an excellent example of how the division of labor among the sciences can lead to a wide range of complementary insights regarding specific social phenomena.Less
This chapter summarizes the book's findings regarding cooperation, coordination, and collective action as well as adaptation and the role that organizations play in fostering cooperation. It first considers four vignettes, each highlighting a contrast between a situation in which cooperation did occur and one in which it did not: water as a common-pool resource, grassroots justice in Tanzania, slave rebellions, and coordinated and uncoordinated air traffic. It then offers some observations regarding the relationship between the social and life sciences, with particular emphasis on consilience, emergence, and the scientific division of labor. The chapter explains how consilience is made possible by emergence and cites the study of cooperation as an excellent example of how the division of labor among the sciences can lead to a wide range of complementary insights regarding specific social phenomena.
Jon McGinnis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195331479
- eISBN:
- 9780199868032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331479.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter first considers where Avicenna envisions medicine within his general classification of the sciences. It next presents the general principles of the humoral medicine that Avicenna adopts, ...
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This chapter first considers where Avicenna envisions medicine within his general classification of the sciences. It next presents the general principles of the humoral medicine that Avicenna adopts, and then discusses Avicenna’s views about health and the causes of disease or malady more generally. It concludes by considering a concrete issue of a medical-philosophical nature treated in Avicenna’s writings, namely, a problem associated with embryonic development and specifically whether embryonic development occurs gradually, as observation seems to suggest, or in stages, as theory seems to dictate. In the end, the chapter hopes to show how Avicenna successfully wed the best medicine of his time with his own philosophical system.Less
This chapter first considers where Avicenna envisions medicine within his general classification of the sciences. It next presents the general principles of the humoral medicine that Avicenna adopts, and then discusses Avicenna’s views about health and the causes of disease or malady more generally. It concludes by considering a concrete issue of a medical-philosophical nature treated in Avicenna’s writings, namely, a problem associated with embryonic development and specifically whether embryonic development occurs gradually, as observation seems to suggest, or in stages, as theory seems to dictate. In the end, the chapter hopes to show how Avicenna successfully wed the best medicine of his time with his own philosophical system.
Erik J. Hammerstrom
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231172769
- eISBN:
- 9780231541107
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172769.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Erik Hammerstrom’s chapter examines the participation of Buddhist intellectuals in the early 1920s “Science and Philosophy of Life” debates; he shows how Buddhist intellectuals adopted and promoted ...
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Erik Hammerstrom’s chapter examines the participation of Buddhist intellectuals in the early 1920s “Science and Philosophy of Life” debates; he shows how Buddhist intellectuals adopted and promoted modern scientific taxonomies of knowledge and scientific empiricism in ways informed by their Buddhist thinking that subsequently tempered, complicated, expanded, and deepened the modern Chinese discourse on science even as they advanced it.Less
Erik Hammerstrom’s chapter examines the participation of Buddhist intellectuals in the early 1920s “Science and Philosophy of Life” debates; he shows how Buddhist intellectuals adopted and promoted modern scientific taxonomies of knowledge and scientific empiricism in ways informed by their Buddhist thinking that subsequently tempered, complicated, expanded, and deepened the modern Chinese discourse on science even as they advanced it.
Juan Manuel Garrido
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239351
- eISBN:
- 9780823239399
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” ...
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The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” and we no longer know how to ask the question “what is life?” The traditional way of understanding life as self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, of taking care of one's own hunger, is challenged. This challenge entails questioning fundamental concepts of metaphysical thinking, namely, time, finality, and above all being and existing. In this study, the author proposes some basics elements for the question concerning life through readings of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida; through the discussion of scientific breakthroughs in thermodynamics and evolutionary and developmental biology; and through the re-examination of the notion of hunger in both its metaphysical and its political implications.Less
The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” and we no longer know how to ask the question “what is life?” The traditional way of understanding life as self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, of taking care of one's own hunger, is challenged. This challenge entails questioning fundamental concepts of metaphysical thinking, namely, time, finality, and above all being and existing. In this study, the author proposes some basics elements for the question concerning life through readings of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida; through the discussion of scientific breakthroughs in thermodynamics and evolutionary and developmental biology; and through the re-examination of the notion of hunger in both its metaphysical and its political implications.
Justin E. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691141787
- eISBN:
- 9781400838721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691141787.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent ...
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Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of G. W. Leibniz. This book offers the first in-depth examination of Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the empirical life sciences of his day, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. The book shows how these wide-ranging pursuits were not only central to Leibniz's philosophical interests, but often provided the insights that led to some of his best-known philosophical doctrines. Presenting the clearest picture yet of the scope of Leibniz's theoretical interest in the life sciences, the book takes seriously the philosopher's own repeated claims that the world must be understood in fundamentally biological terms. Here it reveals a thinker who was immersed in the sciences of life, and looked to the living world for answers to vexing metaphysical problems. The book casts Leibniz's philosophy in an entirely new light, demonstrating how it radically departed from the prevailing models of mechanical philosophy and had an enduring influence on the history and development of the life sciences. Along the way, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into early modern debates about the nature and origins of organic life, and into how philosophers such as Leibniz engaged with the scientific dilemmas of their era.Less
Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of G. W. Leibniz. This book offers the first in-depth examination of Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the empirical life sciences of his day, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. The book shows how these wide-ranging pursuits were not only central to Leibniz's philosophical interests, but often provided the insights that led to some of his best-known philosophical doctrines. Presenting the clearest picture yet of the scope of Leibniz's theoretical interest in the life sciences, the book takes seriously the philosopher's own repeated claims that the world must be understood in fundamentally biological terms. Here it reveals a thinker who was immersed in the sciences of life, and looked to the living world for answers to vexing metaphysical problems. The book casts Leibniz's philosophy in an entirely new light, demonstrating how it radically departed from the prevailing models of mechanical philosophy and had an enduring influence on the history and development of the life sciences. Along the way, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into early modern debates about the nature and origins of organic life, and into how philosophers such as Leibniz engaged with the scientific dilemmas of their era.
Erik J. Hammerstrom
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170345
- eISBN:
- 9780231539586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170345.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The book argues that the most important period for Chinese Buddhists engagement with modern science occurred in the ten years between 1923 and 1932. This chapter lays out the historical context for ...
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The book argues that the most important period for Chinese Buddhists engagement with modern science occurred in the ten years between 1923 and 1932. This chapter lays out the historical context for that period. It begins with a general outline of Chinese history from the mid nineteenth century to 1920, culminating in an explanation of the historical significance of the year 1923. The central third of the chapter describe the spread of modern science in China, particularly the professionalization institutionalization of the various sciences, which were generally complete by the mid 1930s. The chapter closes with a review of the history Chinese Buddhist during the entire period, underscoring the manner in which social changes served to compel Buddhists to engage with science.Less
The book argues that the most important period for Chinese Buddhists engagement with modern science occurred in the ten years between 1923 and 1932. This chapter lays out the historical context for that period. It begins with a general outline of Chinese history from the mid nineteenth century to 1920, culminating in an explanation of the historical significance of the year 1923. The central third of the chapter describe the spread of modern science in China, particularly the professionalization institutionalization of the various sciences, which were generally complete by the mid 1930s. The chapter closes with a review of the history Chinese Buddhist during the entire period, underscoring the manner in which social changes served to compel Buddhists to engage with science.
C. U. M. Smith, Eugenio Frixione, Stanley Finger, and William Clower
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199766499
- eISBN:
- 9780199950263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199766499.003.0016
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
This chapter summarizes important points that have been made in this book on the emergence of the animal spirit paradigm, its development, and how it was replaced by the notion of electricity. It ...
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This chapter summarizes important points that have been made in this book on the emergence of the animal spirit paradigm, its development, and how it was replaced by the notion of electricity. It reviews the ideas and concepts that led to the evolution of the animal spirit doctrine, and then discusses some notable individuals whose works helped improve current knowledge. This chapter also states that the present study tried to provide examples of how new ideas could emerge and how changes can occur in the life sciences.Less
This chapter summarizes important points that have been made in this book on the emergence of the animal spirit paradigm, its development, and how it was replaced by the notion of electricity. It reviews the ideas and concepts that led to the evolution of the animal spirit doctrine, and then discusses some notable individuals whose works helped improve current knowledge. This chapter also states that the present study tried to provide examples of how new ideas could emerge and how changes can occur in the life sciences.
Juan Manuel Garrido
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239351
- eISBN:
- 9780823239399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239351.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning ...
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This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning it. Life has been traditionally understood as the self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, or, as is also said, of taking care of one's own hunger. This conceptualization entails a particular understanding of time in natural processes conerning living beings and a particular conception of the being of living beings (for instance, as the “care” of not ceasing to be). It is held that the traditional concept of life has furnished the main paradigm for the concept of being, including in Heidegger's philosophy, so that the deconstruction of the traditional understanding of life entails a deconstruction of ontology. This introductory chapter includes a description of the content of the book.Less
This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning it. Life has been traditionally understood as the self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, or, as is also said, of taking care of one's own hunger. This conceptualization entails a particular understanding of time in natural processes conerning living beings and a particular conception of the being of living beings (for instance, as the “care” of not ceasing to be). It is held that the traditional concept of life has furnished the main paradigm for the concept of being, including in Heidegger's philosophy, so that the deconstruction of the traditional understanding of life entails a deconstruction of ontology. This introductory chapter includes a description of the content of the book.
Justin E. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691141787
- eISBN:
- 9781400838721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691141787.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter analyzes the scientific context in which Leibniz's unique theory of organic bodies took shape. It begins by focusing on the biographical and historical context of Leibniz's model of ...
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This chapter analyzes the scientific context in which Leibniz's unique theory of organic bodies took shape. It begins by focusing on the biographical and historical context of Leibniz's model of organic bodies. In particular, it looks at the relation of Leibniz's model of organic body to the empirical life sciences of his era, especially to the seventeenth century's discovery of the ubiquity of subvisible living creatures as well as its growing awareness of the deep interdependence of all living entities. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the legacy of the model of individuality developed by Leibniz in today's philosophy of biology.Less
This chapter analyzes the scientific context in which Leibniz's unique theory of organic bodies took shape. It begins by focusing on the biographical and historical context of Leibniz's model of organic bodies. In particular, it looks at the relation of Leibniz's model of organic body to the empirical life sciences of his era, especially to the seventeenth century's discovery of the ubiquity of subvisible living creatures as well as its growing awareness of the deep interdependence of all living entities. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the legacy of the model of individuality developed by Leibniz in today's philosophy of biology.
Iain M. Cockburn, Scott Stern, and Jack Zausner
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226326832
- eISBN:
- 9780226326856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226326856.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter reviews the roots of innovation in life sciences, an industry that has been the second-largest recipient of federal research funding (after defense), and which is justly celebrated for ...
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This chapter reviews the roots of innovation in life sciences, an industry that has been the second-largest recipient of federal research funding (after defense), and which is justly celebrated for the extraordinary productivity of the “innovation ecosystem” that links its public and private sectors. The nature of energy and climate change innovation is in many respects different in some fundamental ways from life sciences innovation; however, the evolution and structure of the life sciences innovation system offers an instructive comparison. The genesis and evolution of the life sciences innovation system is the consequence of a set of policy choices and a microeconomic environment that has allowed the United States to leverage a set of embryonic scientific discoveries into a platform for sustained innovation, which has had a significant impact on human health and welfare. Some key features of the life sciences innovation system, such as the set of interdependent firms, markets, institutions, and regulatory and legal frameworks responsible for this strong record of innovation, and some lessons from this sector for innovation policy in energy and climate change, are outlined in the chapter.Less
This chapter reviews the roots of innovation in life sciences, an industry that has been the second-largest recipient of federal research funding (after defense), and which is justly celebrated for the extraordinary productivity of the “innovation ecosystem” that links its public and private sectors. The nature of energy and climate change innovation is in many respects different in some fundamental ways from life sciences innovation; however, the evolution and structure of the life sciences innovation system offers an instructive comparison. The genesis and evolution of the life sciences innovation system is the consequence of a set of policy choices and a microeconomic environment that has allowed the United States to leverage a set of embryonic scientific discoveries into a platform for sustained innovation, which has had a significant impact on human health and welfare. Some key features of the life sciences innovation system, such as the set of interdependent firms, markets, institutions, and regulatory and legal frameworks responsible for this strong record of innovation, and some lessons from this sector for innovation policy in energy and climate change, are outlined in the chapter.
Helga Nowotny and Giuseppe Testa
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262014939
- eISBN:
- 9780262295802
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014939.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book charts the mutual reconfiguration between scientific and social innovations in and around the molecular life sciences. Today’s biology is making visible what was once invisible. It parses ...
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This book charts the mutual reconfiguration between scientific and social innovations in and around the molecular life sciences. Today’s biology is making visible what was once invisible. It parses life into new units of sense-making and reassembles them into new forms: from genes to clones, from embryonic stages to the building-blocks of synthetic biology. Yet, extracted from their scientific and social context and turned into mobile resources, technical and discursive alike, these new forms of life become not only visible but indeed “naked”: ready to assume an – illusory - essential status and thereby take on multiple values and meanings as they pass from labs to courts, from patent offices to parliaments – and back. Our goal is to cast a new gaze on these dramatic advances in the life sciences by probing their mutual interaction with equally dramatic re-configurations in the political texture of our societies. To this end, we focus on paradigmatic encounters between scientific and social ingenuity, from assisted reproduction through personalized medicine to genetic sports doping. We bring into relief surprising continuities as well as radical discontinuities between innovation and tradition. On this basis we then trace how, when social arrangements appear disrupted, advances in the life sciences combine with “human technologies”–the law, governance, and ethics– to stabilize or innovate social order. This brings us to conclude that the task of institutions in the molecular age is to enable pluralism by carving a legitimate space for experimentation with new forms of biological life as well as with new forms of social life. Less
This book charts the mutual reconfiguration between scientific and social innovations in and around the molecular life sciences. Today’s biology is making visible what was once invisible. It parses life into new units of sense-making and reassembles them into new forms: from genes to clones, from embryonic stages to the building-blocks of synthetic biology. Yet, extracted from their scientific and social context and turned into mobile resources, technical and discursive alike, these new forms of life become not only visible but indeed “naked”: ready to assume an – illusory - essential status and thereby take on multiple values and meanings as they pass from labs to courts, from patent offices to parliaments – and back. Our goal is to cast a new gaze on these dramatic advances in the life sciences by probing their mutual interaction with equally dramatic re-configurations in the political texture of our societies. To this end, we focus on paradigmatic encounters between scientific and social ingenuity, from assisted reproduction through personalized medicine to genetic sports doping. We bring into relief surprising continuities as well as radical discontinuities between innovation and tradition. On this basis we then trace how, when social arrangements appear disrupted, advances in the life sciences combine with “human technologies”–the law, governance, and ethics– to stabilize or innovate social order. This brings us to conclude that the task of institutions in the molecular age is to enable pluralism by carving a legitimate space for experimentation with new forms of biological life as well as with new forms of social life.
Paul Julian Weindling
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206910
- eISBN:
- 9780191677373
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206910.003.0033
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
By the mid-1920s, scientific cooperation replaced Germany's medical assistance to Russia: defending German racial stocks from the ravages of epidemics and famine gave way to futuristic schemes of ...
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By the mid-1920s, scientific cooperation replaced Germany's medical assistance to Russia: defending German racial stocks from the ravages of epidemics and famine gave way to futuristic schemes of advanced research in genetics and pathology. The research into obscure illnesses from goitre to camel disease often in remote areas ostensibly demonstrated that two great nations were willing to cooperate in humanitarian medical research. But at the same time there were covert German national agendas: pathology, sero-anthropology, and genetics undermined the Treaty of Versailles by showing that it did not accord with the ethnic map of Europe, given the scattered nature of German communities in the east. Heinz Zeiss was crucial in sustaining German–Soviet medical cooperation. He laid the foundations for a wide-ranging programme of cooperation in medicine and the life sciences. Nikolai Lenin's sympathetic foreign policy towards Germany led to the Treaty of Rapallo of April 16, 1922. A German–Russian Laboratory or Institute for Racial Research was established in Russia. In the end, however, the ideological clash between Soviet communism and Nazism severed their residual academic and medical ties.Less
By the mid-1920s, scientific cooperation replaced Germany's medical assistance to Russia: defending German racial stocks from the ravages of epidemics and famine gave way to futuristic schemes of advanced research in genetics and pathology. The research into obscure illnesses from goitre to camel disease often in remote areas ostensibly demonstrated that two great nations were willing to cooperate in humanitarian medical research. But at the same time there were covert German national agendas: pathology, sero-anthropology, and genetics undermined the Treaty of Versailles by showing that it did not accord with the ethnic map of Europe, given the scattered nature of German communities in the east. Heinz Zeiss was crucial in sustaining German–Soviet medical cooperation. He laid the foundations for a wide-ranging programme of cooperation in medicine and the life sciences. Nikolai Lenin's sympathetic foreign policy towards Germany led to the Treaty of Rapallo of April 16, 1922. A German–Russian Laboratory or Institute for Racial Research was established in Russia. In the end, however, the ideological clash between Soviet communism and Nazism severed their residual academic and medical ties.
Juan Manuel Garrido
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239351
- eISBN:
- 9780823239399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239351.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter analyzes a second figure under which the deconstruction of the traditional way of thinking life is engaged. “Today, biologists no longer study life in laboratories,” François Jacob ...
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This chapter analyzes a second figure under which the deconstruction of the traditional way of thinking life is engaged. “Today, biologists no longer study life in laboratories,” François Jacob famously states. Following Rheinberger's historical epistemology, this chapter shows how the substantiality and regulative unity of the object “life” disappears as the horizon for the concrete empirical research in experimental systems. Research in life science does not presuppose the hermeneutical understanding or pre-understanding of the “being of life.”Less
This chapter analyzes a second figure under which the deconstruction of the traditional way of thinking life is engaged. “Today, biologists no longer study life in laboratories,” François Jacob famously states. Following Rheinberger's historical epistemology, this chapter shows how the substantiality and regulative unity of the object “life” disappears as the horizon for the concrete empirical research in experimental systems. Research in life science does not presuppose the hermeneutical understanding or pre-understanding of the “being of life.”
Stanley Finger and Marco Piccolino
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195366723
- eISBN:
- 9780199897087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366723.003.0021
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
Luigi Galvani merits the lion's share of the credit for expanding the doctrine of animal electricity beyond the singular powers of a few fish, and for doing this in a way that would reshape the life ...
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Luigi Galvani merits the lion's share of the credit for expanding the doctrine of animal electricity beyond the singular powers of a few fish, and for doing this in a way that would reshape the life sciences and markedly influence medicine. This chapter examines how Galvani's investigations led him to his revolutionary ideas about animal electricity, as expressed in his landmark publication of 1791. It shows how animal spirits—the elusive messengers of the soul that carried sensory and motor signals in classical and even later physiology—would only now start to be banished from science and medicine by newer electrical ideas.Less
Luigi Galvani merits the lion's share of the credit for expanding the doctrine of animal electricity beyond the singular powers of a few fish, and for doing this in a way that would reshape the life sciences and markedly influence medicine. This chapter examines how Galvani's investigations led him to his revolutionary ideas about animal electricity, as expressed in his landmark publication of 1791. It shows how animal spirits—the elusive messengers of the soul that carried sensory and motor signals in classical and even later physiology—would only now start to be banished from science and medicine by newer electrical ideas.
Mark Coeckelbergh
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035460
- eISBN:
- 9780262343084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035460.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
In chapter 4 it is argued that already in historical times the romantic relation to technology cannot be reduced to mere opposition. It is shown how in the early nineteenth century romantics were not ...
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In chapter 4 it is argued that already in historical times the romantic relation to technology cannot be reduced to mere opposition. It is shown how in the early nineteenth century romantics were not only fearful of, but also fascinated by the new science and technology. Drawing on Tresch (2012) and Holmes (2008) it is argued that there was a current in Romanticism which viewed science and the arts as entwined, and which tried to fuse the organic and the mechanic, life and science. These material romanticisms are neglected by philosophers of technology who reduce romanticism to escapism, nostalgia, or anti-machine thinking.
This brings us to our age, with its life sciences and its robotics that share these deeply material-romantic aims. First it is shown how in the 20th century there was a romantic science (Freud) and how technology and romanticism became very much entangled: not only in science fiction but also in reality: born as hippie computing in the context of the 1960s and 1970s counter-culture, there is a development of what we may call romantic devices.Less
In chapter 4 it is argued that already in historical times the romantic relation to technology cannot be reduced to mere opposition. It is shown how in the early nineteenth century romantics were not only fearful of, but also fascinated by the new science and technology. Drawing on Tresch (2012) and Holmes (2008) it is argued that there was a current in Romanticism which viewed science and the arts as entwined, and which tried to fuse the organic and the mechanic, life and science. These material romanticisms are neglected by philosophers of technology who reduce romanticism to escapism, nostalgia, or anti-machine thinking.
This brings us to our age, with its life sciences and its robotics that share these deeply material-romantic aims. First it is shown how in the 20th century there was a romantic science (Freud) and how technology and romanticism became very much entangled: not only in science fiction but also in reality: born as hippie computing in the context of the 1960s and 1970s counter-culture, there is a development of what we may call romantic devices.
Sheila Jasanoff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262015950
- eISBN:
- 9780262298667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015950.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This book is located in the overlapping spaces developed by a half-century of rewriting life in genetic sciences and technologies and the centuries-old texts of law that represent one of the most ...
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This book is located in the overlapping spaces developed by a half-century of rewriting life in genetic sciences and technologies and the centuries-old texts of law that represent one of the most durable monuments of human culture. It argues that periods of significant change in the life sciences and technologies should be seen as constitutional or, more precisely, bioconstitutional in their consequences. It tries to capture the dynamics of the contemporary bioconstitutional moment as it is unfolding in real time and globalized space. It also opens new ground in legal scholarship, science and technology studies, comparative politics, and bioethics. An overview of the chapters included in this book is given.Less
This book is located in the overlapping spaces developed by a half-century of rewriting life in genetic sciences and technologies and the centuries-old texts of law that represent one of the most durable monuments of human culture. It argues that periods of significant change in the life sciences and technologies should be seen as constitutional or, more precisely, bioconstitutional in their consequences. It tries to capture the dynamics of the contemporary bioconstitutional moment as it is unfolding in real time and globalized space. It also opens new ground in legal scholarship, science and technology studies, comparative politics, and bioethics. An overview of the chapters included in this book is given.
Rosemary Rodd
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240525
- eISBN:
- 9780191680199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240525.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter shows a philosophical examination of the significance of theories and factual discoveries from life sciences for the development of ideas about the moral standing of animals. It seeks to ...
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This chapter shows a philosophical examination of the significance of theories and factual discoveries from life sciences for the development of ideas about the moral standing of animals. It seeks to consider how decisions should be made about the way in which animals ought to be treated, with especial reference to attempts to reduce the suffering caused in biomedical experiments by changing the types of animals used as subjects. A major theme of this book is the way in which certain biological theories about the evolution of human and animal behaviour have affected the attitudes of biologists to moral arguments about the status of animals. It argues that it is a mistake to say humans are cruel since the suffering of animals is only a by-product of the advancement of life science, not something humans enjoy.Less
This chapter shows a philosophical examination of the significance of theories and factual discoveries from life sciences for the development of ideas about the moral standing of animals. It seeks to consider how decisions should be made about the way in which animals ought to be treated, with especial reference to attempts to reduce the suffering caused in biomedical experiments by changing the types of animals used as subjects. A major theme of this book is the way in which certain biological theories about the evolution of human and animal behaviour have affected the attitudes of biologists to moral arguments about the status of animals. It argues that it is a mistake to say humans are cruel since the suffering of animals is only a by-product of the advancement of life science, not something humans enjoy.
