Disturbing Dogmas: Biologists and the History of Biology

The attitude of biologists to the history of their discipline varies. For some, a hazy knowledge of the recent past is all that is necessary to provide an explanatory basis for their work. They take it for granted that everything of value from the less recent past has been appropriately incorporated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience in context Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 557 - 571
Main Authors Jablonka, Eva, Lamb, Marion J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2013
Subjects
Biologists
Biology
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA methylation
Epigenetics
Evolution
Genetic engineering
Genotype & phenotype
Heredity
History
Hypotheses
Laboratories
Proteins
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Summary:The attitude of biologists to the history of their discipline varies. For some, a hazy knowledge of the recent past is all that is necessary to provide an explanatory basis for their work. They take it for granted that everything of value from the less recent past has been appropriately incorporated into present-day thinking. Other biologists see history as an integral part of their research: the historical roots of accepted facts and theories help in the evaluation of present positions. These biologists bring to history their specialized knowledge, which can be an advantage, but often they also bring an agenda that biases what they investigate and how they present it. We illustrate this by describing our own foray into history, which was motivated by findings in cell biology that suggested that some accepted views about heredity and evolution were wrong.
ISSN:0269-8897
1474-0664
DOI:10.1017/S0269889713000264