Call for Papers: Scientific Concepts in the European periphery
Proposal for a session at the 9th
STEP Meeting, Lisbon, 1-3 September 2014
Organizers: Irene Goudarouli (University of Athens),
Dimitris Petakos (University of Athens)
This panel invites scholars and case studies from
various areas of history. The papers are encouraged to take advantage of the
theoretical and methodological tools developed by the History of Concepts.
Since the late 1960s historians of concepts’ wide and multifarious agenda was
primarily connected with the history and philosophy of political thought. Lately,
history of concepts started tightening its interconnections with other areas of
history, and in this process it crossed paths with history of science. In this
new context an attempt was made by historians to study the scientific concepts
with regard to other disciplines of the humanities, such as social history,
social anthropology, history of medicine, history of political thought and
others. At the same time, the European periphery, due to its wide spatial and
temporal diversity, became an advantageous field for implementing the tools of
History of Concepts. The panel aims at exploring the advantages that this
unique convergence can offer to the history of scientific concepts, as well as
to the study of the European periphery as a knowledge-shaping terrain. In other
words, the panel offers the opportunity for a fruitful discussion about the
formation of scientific concepts in the multicultural and multilingual contexts
of the European periphery by emphasizing the advantages of the convergence of History
of Science with History of Concepts.
The case studies should include, but not be limited to
the following:
- Concept-shaping,
transfer and conceptual transformation. The fact that concepts are not stable
units is well-established nowadays. What does this mean in the context of
science, technology and society? How can the study of concept-shaping in local
level and the transformation of concepts across borders contribute to the study
of the “development” of various “scientific” concepts?
- Moving concepts:
Centers and Peripheries. The linguistic and cultural diversity is the main
characteristic of the European periphery. Moving concepts and their translation
is a central theme of the “Center-Periphery” scheme: How can a historical study
of these phenomena contribute to revising this scheme? How translation affects
the moving concepts and how does it contribute to their domestication? How the
local appropriation of a concept affects the “original” concept? Do scientific
peripheries affect scientific centers through translations?
- Studying concepts in
different linguistic/historical/geopolitical contexts. Placing concepts to
their linguistic and historical contexts is not something new; it is rather a
tradition that can be traced back to the mid-20th century. How
can the study of contexts themselves contribute to the discussion of concepts?
How can the comparative studies of different contexts enrich the history of
concepts? How can comparative studies be enriched by the methodological tools
elaborated by the History of Concepts?
In case you are
interested in contributing to this session on Scientific Concepts in
the European periphery please send an abstract of roughly 250
words by December, 17, 2013 to egoudarouli@gmail.com and dpetakos@gmail.com
--
Irene Goudarouli
Phd Student and Research Assistant
Department of Philosophy and History of Science
Athens University, Greece