The proposed two-year research project will produce for publication by a major university press a historical and philosophical analysis of the conception of "life" in modern biophysics. The intent will be to illuminate this concept through a study of its historical development in modern biology, particularly as this has been manifest in biophysics and molecular biology.
Intellectual Merit Although there have been survey treatments of the notion of life and "vitality" in the literature, there is considerable need for a careful analysis of the conception of life in modern experimental biology. The proposed project is different from prior "encyclopedic" surveys (e.g. Hall, 1969), and it is not replicated by more recent discussions (Hunter 2000; Durr et al. 2002; Maienschein 2003). The project will deal with this conceptual history from a combined scientific, historical, institutional, philosophical, and ethical perspective. Such a conceptual history is needed to position more adequately many of the current debates over such issues as embryonic stem-cell research, end-of-life issues, the question of cloning, and other issues associated with the dramatic developments of modern life science. These issues have resulted from the understanding and technological control of fundamental processes of cellular biology, molecular genetics, neurophysiology, and developmental biology. The proposed study will supply both a limited historical analysis of the "biophysical" tradition in the life sciences, and it will illuminate the linkages between these developments and the conception of life in modern "molecular" biology. As a second major goal, the project will develop an interface between discussions of these issues in Anglo-American "analytic" philosophy of biology, and those occurring in Continental biology reaching back to the heritage of Kant. This interfacing of traditions will develop a more fruitful discussion than now exists between these alternative approaches to the philosophy of biology. In this respect the study will form a bridge between traditions.
Broader Impacts The PI's fundamental motivation for undertaking this research is tied to the social and public policy issues that surround the intellectual questions. It is unquestionable that competing notions of what it means to be "alive," both in the human and non-human world, are at the center of current public debates over several issues involve the intersection of the life sciences, ethics, religion and public policy. Typically parties at present simply talk past one another, and no resolution is in sight beyond a blunt political one. The analysis developed by this book project will seek to moderate, if not necessarily resolve, this discussion by supplying a detailed historical and philosophical analysis of the central concept in play in these discussions. Although there are some recent works that have developed some similar themes (Maienschein 2003), this work is intended to develop the issues with a fuller historical perspective, and engage some of fundamental philosophical issues that a comparative discussion between "analytic" and "Continental" perspectives can ideally provide. The ideal is to create a more fruitful dialogue across traditions. The resultant work should be of use to historians of science, bioethicists, philosophers, theologians, and public policy experts. It should be of value to any who are involved in teaching about the wider impact of research in molecular biology, and developmental biology, particularly at the college and university levels.
