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1998–1999 Annual Report

The Center for Philosophy and History of Science followed its traditional mission of offering a site for post-graduate scholarly exchange concerning all aspects of the philosophy and history of science, and to examine, in the broadest humanistic and social context, the factors that govern science, mathematics, and logic. The individual reports of the various members of the Center (listed below) highlight the wide range of interests of the Center’s staff and visiting scholars. The principal public forum of the Center is the Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science, whose program during this 39th session ranged from “Conceptual Origins of Science in Antiquity” to “The Scientific Image in Early Modern Philosophy” to “Science without Freedom in the Twentieth Century”. Topics were eclectic as reflected by symposia devoted to individual philosophers (Galileo, Henry David Thoreau and Michael Polanyi) and various topics that were chosen in large part for the inter-disciplinary character of their subject (e.g., naturalism, the biology of language, the boundaries of the human sciences, philosophical debate about normativity in language and the character of time). Hosting 53 speakers from diverse institutions in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, and Austria, the Boston University community and the greater Boston academic and lay public were afforded the opportunity of engaging leading experts in the philosophy and history of science in fourteen colloquium events. (The 1998–99 Colloquium listing is included as an appendix.)

Academic Activities of Center Members

Alfred I. Tauber
Director
Professor Tauber published Confessions of a Medicine Man. An Essay in Popular Philosophy (The MIT Press, 1999) in November, 1998. This book is a study of the ethical structure of contemporary medicine and focuses its critique, on the role of autonomy as a foundation of medical ethics. Through personal anecdote, historical narrative, and philosophical discussion, a moral portrait of the doctor-patient relationship is drawn in a presentation that was written for the professional ethicist and tile general reader. The Immune Self. Theory or Metaphor? (Cambridge University Press, 1994) was translated into Italian: L’immunologia Dell’o (Milano: McGraw-Hill). With Robert Cohen, he edited a festschrift volume based on a Colloquium held in November, 1995 in honor of their colleague, Erazim Kohak: Cohen, RS. and Tauber, Al. Philosophies of Nature—The Human Perspective. In Celebration of Erazini Kohak Vol. 195, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998. Published papers include: 1) “Ecology and the claims for a science-based ethics”, in Philosophies of Nature: The Human Perspective, 1998, op. cit. pp. 185–206; 2) “Is Biology a Political Science?” Bioscience, 49-479-86, 1999; 3) “Conceptual shifts in immunology: Comments on the ‘two way paradigm’”, in Paradigm Changes in Organ Transplantation, K. F. Schaffner and T.E. Starzl (eds.) Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19:45 7-47, 1998, and 4) a second article in the same journal issue devoted to a debate about the theoretical structure of immunology: “Response to Melvin Cohn. How Cohn’s two-signal model was turned”, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19:485-94, 1998. 5) “Outside the subject: Levinas’s Jewish Perspective on Time,” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 20/21:439-459. Book reviews: 1) Science Incarnate. Historical Embodiments of Natural Knowledge, edited by Christopher Lawrence and Steven Shapin. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998. Endeavor 22: 129–30, 1998 ; 2) Philosophical Perspectives on Bioethics, edited by L. WaySumner and Joseph Boyle. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1996. Quarterly Journal of Biology: 58–59, 1998; 3) with Eileen Crist: The Representational and the Presentational. An Essay on Cognition and the Study of Mind by Benny Shanon. New York and London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993. Journal of Pragmatics, 3) 1:595-601, 1999.

Works completed during the year and to be published soon include essays on contemporary historiography of science (Science, Technology and Human Values), Frank Macfarlane Burnet (written with Eileen Crist; Biology and Philosophy), and the immune self (Perspectives in Biology and Medicine). Other major projects nearing completion include a monograph on Henry David Thoreau, tentatively titled, Henry David Thoreau and the Moral Agency of Knowing and a collaborative effort with Helena Gourko and Donald Williamson of translation and editing, The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff to be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Two public lectures were presented: “Thoreau’s Notion of time: An Ontology, a Metaphysic, an Ethic” given in the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science, Thoreau’s Natural Philosophy, November 12, 1998; and “Is Biology a Political Science?” given at the First International Conference, Science and Conscience of Man Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, June 3, 1999.

Robert S. Cohen
Emeritus
Prof Cohen continues his active editorial project in the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science (Kluwer Academic Publishers). He is a series editor and the author of the Preface to Heinrich Hertz: Classical Physicist, Modern Philosopher. Vol. 198. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht- Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998, to Philosophies of Nature: The Human Perspective. In Celebration of Erazim Kohak Vol. 195, Boston Studies in the Philosophy, of Science (edited by Cohen, RS and Tauber, Al). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998, and to Arda Denkel. The Natural Background of Meaning. Vol. 197, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. DordrechtKluwer Academic Publishers, 1999. Professor Cohen is a co-editor, with B. Babich, and the author of Introductory Essay to Nietzsche and the Sciences, 2 volumes, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999–2000. He also serves as an Editorial Adviser to the Collected Papers of Arne Naess (10 volumes, 1999) His paper “Mach and Einstein. A Posthumous dialogue” was published in Philosophia Scientiae, 3(2), 1998–1999, 167–182. Professor Cohen also participates in Dr. Gourko’s project (see below) concerning the Zilberman’s archives and co-edits a book on Zilberman’s Analogy in Indian and Western Philosophical thought. He has lectured in “Space-Time, Quantum Entanglement and Critical Epistemology”: A Workshop in Honor of John Stachel, Berlin, June 5–6, 1998; presented a paper “Marxism and Scientific philosophy” at the meeting of International Institute of Philosophy, World Congress of Philosophy, Boston, August 12, 1998; delivered an invited lecture “Science and Humanities Today”, at the World Congress of Philosophy, Boston, August 13, 1998; participated in the Workshop on Science and Politics in China Today: the Lin Chun Thesis, University of Wisconsin, Department of History, Madison, WI; chaired and spoke at Symposium for Elie Wiesel’s 70th Birthday, Boston, October 26, 1998; chaired and participated in a panel in the Wartofsky Colloquium, New School Graduate Center, New York, March 5–6, 1999; delivered lecture and response at the meeting of National Science Teachers Association, Boston, March 30, 1999. Professor Cohen continues his activities as a Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for Philosophy and History of Science (Boston University), as Secretary of the Boston Philosophy of Science Association, as a member of the Governing Board of the Einstein Forum (Potsdam-Berlin), as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science (New Delhi), and as an Editorial Adviser to Foundations of Physics. He also served as an advisor for Boston University Academy, having supervised a senior thesis “Measuring the Skies” (On Johannes Kepler), by Magdalena Slosar. In 1999 Prof. Cohen was again honored by invitation of “The Robert S. Cohen Forum: Contemporary Issues in Science Studies” as part of the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science.”
 
Research Associates
 
Helena Gourko
Dr. Gourko (Associate Professor, Belorussian University, Minsk) is continuing research on the late philosopher David Zilberman, with particular reference to his modal methodology, and to the concept of analogy in Indian and Western philosophical thought. Together with Prof Cohen she completed a translation and editing of Zilberman’s .Analogy in Indian and Western Philosophical Thought (contracted for publication by Kluwer Academic Publishers). In 1999 she published a paper “Zilberman’s Modal Methodology” (Symposium, 1999–01), and presented a lecture “From Apocalyptic to Messianic: Derrida-Zilberman’s Encounters” (20th World Congress of Philosophy, Boston, August 1998). Dr. Gourko finished a collaborative effort with Alfred Tauber and Donald Williamson of translating and editing, The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff to be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Her book, Texts of Deconstruction, recently published in Russia (Tomsk-Vodolei, 158 pp.), became an intellectual bestseller and is contracted for a second edition. In addition to these scholarly activities, she has been the administrative assistant of the Center, organizing the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science.
 
Miriam Balaban
Dr. Balaban leads the first international school for scientific editing at the Consorzio Maria Negri School for Scientific Communication in Italy. She is the editor of Desalination and Symbiosis, and serves as president of the International Society of Scientific Editors Associations. She also has been active in developing science through communication in the third world. Dr. Balaban is closely connected with the Third World Academy of Science and participated in a meeting in Berne of the Swiss Scientific research Partnership for Development project. She advised the African Academy of Science and International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya on publications and their policies. She also participated in the General Assembly of the African Academy of Science in Tunisia.
 
Robert Becker
Dr. Becker concentrates his research activities on clinical, social and psychological implications of Alzheimer’s disease. In 1998–99 academic year he published: with Vicari, S. “Management of Alzheimer’s Disease: Community Based Care for Patients and Families.” Home Health Care Consultant. 5(5) 11-17, 1998; “Issues in the uses of cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer’s disease” International Journal of Geriatric Psychopharmacology 1: 82-87, 1998; and with Meisler, N and Stormer, G. “Employment Outcomes for Clients with Severe Mental Illness in a PACT Model Replication” Psychiatric Services, 50(l) 104-106, 1999. He is now writing a critique of psychiatry, with the intent of proposing a new foundation for psychiatry.
 
Leon Chernyak
Dr. Chernyak’s current interests are focused on a study of teleology. His work on Kant’s teleology and its grounding in Kant’s philosophy of mathematics is implemented in four (out of planned five) chapters of his book. Dr. Chernyak continues his collaboration with Professor Arkady Berenstein (Cornell University) in applying the ideas developed in his study of teleology to the interpretation of the dialectical interplay between geometry and algebra in the history of mathematics. This collaboration led to some practical applications. Prof Berenstein and Dr.Chernyak, together with a group of engineers, created a software knowledge-management system based on the idea of geometric formalization of user’s tasks (i.e., user’s working objectives). A software startup company (Newsphere Inc.) is working on finishing the production of the system.
 
Lin Chun
Dr. Lin taught several courses in political science and Chinese studies at the Department of Government, of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she holds a faculty position. She has also continued her work in the foundations of the social sciences, and is currently conducting research for her book on the transformation of Chinese socialism. In the 1998–99 academic year Dr. Lin published the following “China”, in Alison Jaggar and Iris Young, eds. A Companion to Feminist Philosophy, Blackwell, 1998 (co-authored by Lin, Liu and Jin), “Interpreting social transformation in China” (book review), Political Quarterly, Vol. 69, no. 2, 1998, “Historical communism and the 20th-century”, in Ruey-Chyl Hwang, ed. From Western Marxisin to Pos-tMarxism, Academic Cinica, Taipei, 1998 (in Chinese); “A sober minority”, Dushil, Beijing, no. 4, 1998 (in Chinese), “The Spectre of the Manifesto”, Dushu, Beijing, no. 10, 1998 (in Chinese); “Gender equality: between state and market”, in Qiu Renzong, ed., Chinese Women and Feminist Thought, CASS Publisher, Beijing, 1999 (in English and Chinese), “Human rights and democracy: a clarification”, in loanna Kucuradi, ed., Human Rights 50 Years, Ankara/UNESCO, 1999–, “Participation and recognition—the politics of work and unemployment”, forthcoming in Barbara Hobson, ed. Global Trends of Struggles for Recognition. Dr. Lin also gave the following lectures and conference papers: “Human rights and democracy”, presented at the Human Rights in the World in the Light of Fifty Year’s Experience conference held at the Hacettepe University, Ankara, October 1998, “Why China cannot afford a free marched, Asian Centre Public Lecture”, LSE, January 1999–, “Eurocentrism and the Asia question”, staff seminar presentation, LSE, February 1999–, “Comment on Immanuel Wallerstein, ‘The world we are entering’”, Luxembourg, June 1999.
 
Germady Gorelik
Dr. Gorelik continues to concentrate his research on the role of Andrei Sakharov in the development of the Soviet thermonuclear program. He finished a biographical study of Andrei Sakharov (in Russian) and now is completing translation and editing of an English version. His broader interests are in theoretical physics and the history of physics. This year Dr. Gorelik published: “The Metamorphosis of Andrei Sakharov” (Scientific American, 1999, March, pp. 98-101), “What Did Prevent the Soviet Physics from Lysenkovization? A Dialog” (Priroda, 1999, n 5, pp. 95-105), “Andrei Sakharov: Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons, and Human Rights” (Web exhibit at the American Institute of Physics http.www.aip.org/history.html), “Andrei Sakharov: from Theoretical Physics to Practical Humanism” (30 let “razmysh1enij... ” Andreya Sakharova. Moskva, “Prava cheloveka”, 1998, pp. 108-135), “Andrei Sakharov in 1968” (estnik 1998, n 20,211, ). Dr. Gorelik published a book review: Laurie M. Brown, Helmut Rechenberg. The Origin of the Concept of Nuclear Forces. Philadelphia Institute of Physics Publishing, 1996. ISIS, 1998, 89:4, p. 75 1. He presented a lecture, “Authority of Physics in the Authoritarian State” (Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science, “Science Without Freedom in the Twentieth Century”, May 9, 1999).
 
Lilian Greeley
In the past year, Dr. Greeley worked primarily on research pertaining to a book she is writing with Walter J. Freedman, The Neurophilosophy of Intentionality, an Inquiry into the relationship of Dynamical Neuroscience and Metaphysics. Currently she is pursuing further research into the area of intentionality.
 
Emily Kutash
Dr. Kutash is examining the relationship between the technology of ancient Greek map making, the technology of Greek astronomy, and the idea of boundaries and commensurating parameters in Platonist-neoplatonist metaphysics. During this academic year she has submitted book proposals on her Proclus book to several publishers. She gave a paper, “Proclus and Twentieth Century Physics” at the NeoPlatonic Society at Vanderbilt University, May 1999, which she is preparing for publication. Dr. Kutash is working on another project concerning the Academies in late antiquity and a translation of Proclus Institution Physics. She organized the conference on “The Conceptual Origin of Science in Antiquity” which took place under the auspices of the Colloquium, in September, 1998. Her article “Oikoumene, Ousia and Outside etc.” will be published this fall in the Journal of the Graduate Faculty. In addition, “Orthodox Jewish Dress Customs” will be published in an anthology on semiotics and dress.
 
Zuraya Monroy-Nasr
Dr. Monroy-Nasr explored a topic on Descartes’ conception of scientific knowledge and its relation to sense perception, with particular focus on the role of semantic relations. During her fellowship in 1998–99 academic year she finished a paper, “Scientific Knowledge and Sense Perception in R. Descartes: the Role of the Semantic Relation.”
 
Thomas Winner
Dr. Winner continues to be active in semiotics. His research activities are primarily related to finishing a book, The Czech Interwar Literary Avant-garde in the European Context. He consults for the Central European University Research Support Scheme, Czech Academy of Sciences, Slavic Review, Harvard University, Masaryk University, Charles University, and Emory University. In August 1998, he was invited to lecture at the World Congress of Bohemists held in Prague to Honor the 650th Anniversary of the Founding of Charles University. At this occasion, Dr. Winner was awarded the Gold Medal in Honor of the 650th Anniversary of the Founding of Charles University for his work in the area of Czech and World Verbal Culture. Interviews with Dr. Winner were run in several Prague daily newspapers. During the 1998–99 academic year, Dr. Winner published two articles: “Vladislav Vancura as Critic. His Relation to the Prague Linguistic Circle. In S-European Journalfor Semiotic Studies, Vienna, Austria. 10/1.2) 1998; “Is Art Dead? Postmodernism and Czech Poetism.” Proceedings of the international Conference in Semiotics in Honor of the 80th birthday of Professor T G. Winner Held at the Prague Castle in 1997. IN. S - European Journal for Semiotic Studies, Vienna 20/3.
 
Hu Zhiqiang
Dr. Hu Zhiqiang was a Research Fellow of the center from January I to June 1, 1999, working with Professor Tian Cao and Professor Jaakko Hintikka on the concept of experiment in the light of the interrogative approach to scientific inquiry. They plan to publish a paper on this topic.
 
Financial Support
Financial support for the Center derives from several sources. Aside from University support, the Dibner Fund continues to provide dissertation fellowships for graduate students, and also provides major programmatic support ($15,000 per year). The Humanities Foundation awarded the Center $3,000 to support the colloquium. “Science without Freedom in the Twentieth Century”, and “The Boundaries of the Human Sciences.” Other support was derived from the Neurophil Research Fund, Inc.