The Committee for Integrated HPS (History and Philosophy of Science) has been formed to foster research that integrates history of science and philosophy of science. The principal means will be through the initiation of a series of conferences devoted explicitly to work that effects this integration.
The intellectual merit of the proposal rests on the attempt to invigorate the existing community in history and philosophy of science, as well as attracting new scholars with an interest in integrated HPS; and to generate new scholarship in integrated history and philosophy of science. This goal will be achieved by the creation of a new forum devoted to integrated HPS that is open to all interested scholars, at which they can meet and present their work.
The broader impact will derive through the long-standing interest of people outside the field in integrated history and philosophy of science. Many of our colleagues in the sciences who seek a broader understanding of their science find work in integrated history and philosophy of science to be especially illuminating, since it can connect the foundational issues in the science with contextual issues. Scholars in the humanities often find these analyses helpful for similar reasons and as one model of a highly successful type of interdisciplinary endeavor. Finally, fundamental research in integrated history and philosophy of science provides primary source material for education. It provides to science education materials that can be used to convey the humanistic context of science to students; as well as the importance of science to humanistic studies. It also offers fundamental source materials for secondary science teachers struggling to convey to their students the "nature of science."
