Call for applications: VISU 2008 "History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences"

The Vienna International Summer University will be holding a two-week session, June 30-July 11, 2007 on "History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences."

An international team of scholars, including Rachel A. Ankeny (University of Adelaide, Australia), Bernardino Fantini (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and David Wootton (University of York, United Kingdom), with Keith Wailoo (Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, USA) as a guest lecturer, will be conducting a program of lectures, seminars, and tutorials directed to graduate students, and focusing on a series issues described in detail below and at: http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU/ 

English is VISU's official language.

This is an outstanding opportunity not only to gain a deeper theoretical understanding of fundamental issues in the philosophy and history of the biomedical sciences, but also to establish connections with international colleagues.  Duke students who attended the program in previous years were enthusiastic and felt the program contributed significantly to their graduate career.

Students in all disciplines are welcome to apply.  As part of their exchange program, Duke and VISU will provide up to ten full fellowships to successful applicants, covering tuition, accommodations, and a significant portion of the airfare (up to $800). Apply directly to Vienna but send me, Malachi Haim Hacohen, a brief note indicating that you have submitted your application. VISU determines admission and will be contacting successful  applicants.  Deadline is January 30, but you are advised to apply well in advance.  Once the admission list is finalized, I shall write  concerning the arrangements for the airfare.  The program is described below in greater detail.  You can also review the program and application material at the Web address above.  The Web site provides the appropriate Viennese contacts for administrative matters.  In exceptional circumstances, you may also write Professor Friedrich Stadler.

Malachi Haim Hacohen
Associate Professor and Bass Fellow
History, Political Science and Religion
Duke University
 

Since 2001 the University of Vienna and the Institute Vienna Circle have been holding an annual two-week summer program dedicated to major current issues in the natural and social sciences, their history and philosophy. The title of the program reflects the heritage of the Vienna Circle which promoted interdisciplinary and philosophical investigations based on solid disciplinary knowledge.

As an international interdisciplinary program, VISU- SWC will bring graduate students in close contact with world-renowned scholars. It will operate under the academic supervision of an International Program Committee of distinguished philosophers, historians, and scientists. The program is directed primarily to graduate students and junior researchers in fields related to the annual topic, but the organizers also encourage applications from gifted undergraduates and from people in all stages of their career who wish to broaden their horizon through crossdisciplinary studies of methodological and foundational issues in science.

The summer course consists of morning sessions, chaired by distinguished lecturers which focus on readings assigned to students in advance. Afternoon sessions are made up of tutorials by assistant professors for junior students and of smaller groups which offer senior students the opportunity to discuss their own research papers with one of the main lecturers.

Organized by the University of Vienna and the Institute Vienna Circle.

A two-week high-level summer course on questions related to fundamental philosophical problems of biomedical sciences, spanning a wide range of topics in biomedicine, biotechnology and medical practices, and addressing normative, historical and topical issues from an international perspective.

Main Lecturers:
Rachel A. Ankeny (University of Adelaide, Australia)
Bernardino Fantini (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
David Wootton (University of York, United Kingdom)

Guest Lecturer
Keith Wailoo (Rutgers University, USA)

International Program Committee
John Beatty (Vancouver), Martin Carrier (Bielefeld), Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara (Florence), Maria Carla Galavotti (Bologna), Malachi Hacohen (Durham/Raleigh), Rainer Hegselmann (Bayreuth), Michael Heidelberger (Tübingen), Elisabeth Leinfellner (Vienna), Paolo Mancosu (Berkeley), Paolo Parrini (Florence), Friedrich Stadler (Vienna), Roger Stuewer (Minneapolis), Thomas Uebel (Manchester), Jan Wolenski (Cracow), Anton Zeilinger (Vienna).
Michael Stöltzner (Secretary of the PC, Vienna)
Karoly Kokai (Secretary of the VISU, Vienna)

The main Lecturers
Rachel A. Ankeny
Rachel A. Ankeny has a BA in Liberal Arts (Philosophy/Maths, St John's College, Santa Fe, NM), and MA degrees in Philosophy and in Bioethics and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science (all from the University of Pittsburgh, PA), and a MA in Gastronomy (University of Adelaide). She is currently senior lecturer in history at the University of Adelaide, and was director and lecturer/senior lecturer in the Unit for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney from 2000-2006. Ankeny's research interests include the roles of models and case-based reasoning in science, model organisms, the philosophy of medicine, and the history of contemporary life sciences. Her research in bioethics examines ethical and policy issues in genetics, reproduction, women's health, embryo and stem cell research, and food, among other topics. She is a member of several editorial boards for scholarly journals in HPS and bioethics, and associate editor of the Journal of the History of Biology.

Bernardino Fantini
Bernardino Fantini received his Doctor in Biochemistry (1974) at the University La Sapienza in Rome and his PhD in the History of Science and Medicine (1992) at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris-Sorbonne. He is currently Professor of History of Medicine and Director of the Institute of the History of Medicine and Health at the University of Geneva. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medicina & Storia, Editor of the journal History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, corresponding member of the Académie Internationale d'histoire des sciences and president of the Italian Institute of Anthropology. His main research subjects are the history of the life sciences, epistemology of biology and medicine and the history of the relationships between medicine and music.
http://histmed.unige.ch/fantini.php

David Wootton
David Wootton is Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York and author of Bad Medicine: Doctors Doing Harm Since Hippocrates (Oxford, 2006). He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and has held visiting positions at Cambridge, Princeton, Washington (St Louis), and McGill, and permanent positions at the Universities of London (twice) and Brunel in England and at the Universities of Halifax, London, and Victoria in Canada. He has held chairs in History, Politics, and Humanities. He has published widely on early modern intellectual history, particularly the history of political theory and of atheism, and has translated Machiavelli, More, and Voltaire, and edited Locke in editions published by Hackett. He reviews regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books. He is currently writing on Galileo for Yale University Press, with funding from the Leverhulme Foundation.
www.badmedicine.co.uk and www.york.ac.uk/depts/hist/staff/wootton.shtml

History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences
The field of History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences has become in the recent decade a hot spot in historical research and philosophical debate. The increasing place of biomedical sciences in contemporary societies and individual lives has raised many questions concerning the epistemological status and practice of biology and medicine of biology and medicine.

The course will deal with some of the fundamental philosophical problems of biomedical sciences, raised by their historical development since the age of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century to the very contemporary development in biomedicine, biotechnology and medical practices.
Selected topics of historical and philosophical relevance will be covered, which are at the core of present-day debates and have great relevance for bioethical debates and social and political concerns on the role of biology and medicine in our societies. Particular attention will be devoted to some methodological issues and to the necessary link between historical and philosophical inquiries.
The course will be necessarily trans-disciplinary and because of its advanced content, general background and introductory material will be distributed to the participants in advance in order to facilitate the discussion and a common reflection on the topics suggested.

The lectures will deal with the following topics:
The epistemological status of medicine
The Hippocratic tradition, from Hippocrates to the Nineteenth Century
The origins of scientific medicine (16th-20th centuries)
The concept of disease: Historical roots and philosophical perspectives
Causality in biomedical sciences. An historical and epistemological analysis
The pragmatics of causation in clinical practice
The philosophical debate on the normal and the pathological
The role of the case in medical reasoning
Error in medicine
From germs to genes: Theories on generation and infection (16th-20th centuries).
Form, information, and programmes: The rise of the molecular explanation of life and disease
Moral issues associated with gene therapy
Darwinian Medicine: How evolution by natural selection can explain health and disease?
Historical and epistemological issues associated with animal models in biomedical research
The social and economical determination of health and disease: The McKeown Thesis
Historical and epistemological issues in Evidence Based Medicine

Cost of the program: EUR 880,-

Lodging in student dormitories is available at approximately EUR 300,- for the whole duration of the course.

Applicants should submit:
A short educational curriculum vitae
A list of most recent courses and grades or a copy of your diplomas
A one-page statement (in English), briefly outlining your previous work and your reason for attending the VISU-SWC
A (sealed) letter of recommendation from your professor, including some comment on your previous work. This letter may also be sent directly by your professor.
A passport photo
Please make sure that all documents arrive in time because we can process only complete applications.
Application form (available on our web site: http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU) may be sent in advance.

To participate mastering English on a high level is required.

Application deadline: January 30, 2008 (Later applications may be considered if space is still available.)

A letter of admission together with a detailed syllabus will reach successful applicants by mid-February, 2008.

The administration of VISU-SWC at the University of Vienna can assist the candidates admitted in applying for funds and in the accreditation of the course, but unfortunately, cannot offer financial assistance. However, for a few gifted applicants who can demonstrate that, despite serious documented efforts, they have not been able to obtain any financial support, in particular due to economic difficulties in their own country, a tuition waiver grant, awarded by the Institute Vienna Circle and the University of Vienna, will be provided.

Applications should be sent to
Professor Friedrich Stadler, Institute Vienna Circle
University Campus, Spitalgasse 2-4, Court 1, A- 1090 Vienna, Austria
Fax: +43-1-4277 41297

For further inquiries, please send email to Friedrich Stadler or consult the IVC's Web site www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU