Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): Alison K. McConwell, PhD. "Entwined Science & Values: A Complex Relationship Between Julian Huxley’s Biological & Social World Views"
12:00pm - 1:00pm • Virtual, via Zoom
2024-06-25 12:00:00 2024-06-25 13:00:00 America/New_York Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): Alison K. McConwell, PhD. "Entwined Science & Values: A Complex Relationship Between Julian Huxley’s Biological & Social World Views" Entwined Science & Values: A Complex Relationship Between Julian Huxley’s Biological & Social World Views Alison K. McConwell, PhD Assistant Professor of Philosophy UMass Lowell While Julian S. Huxley’s (1887-1975) role in the Eugenics Society is well known, the ways in which his scientific research program intimately entwined with his broader social views is sometimes overlooked. This talk analyzes Huxley’s earlier and later research centering Individual (1912) and Modern Synthesis (1942) as two case studies in the context of his larger body of work. This analysis demonstrates that idealizations separating his so-called serious empirical science from his popularizer persona and informal work masks the deeper coherence of his ideological commitments to the scientific management of human evolution, commitments which weave through the entirety of his research program. Huxley aimed to establish the biologist’s role for engineering human evolution towards sets of ideals conceived by the educated elite. Virtual, via Zoom Penn Medical EthicsEntwined Science & Values: A Complex Relationship Between Julian Huxley’s Biological & Social World Views
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
UMass Lowell
While Julian S. Huxley’s (1887-1975) role in the Eugenics Society is well known, the ways in which his scientific research program intimately entwined with his broader social views is sometimes overlooked. This talk analyzes Huxley’s earlier and later research centering Individual (1912) and Modern Synthesis (1942) as two case studies in the context of his larger body of work.
This analysis demonstrates that idealizations separating his so-called serious empirical science from his popularizer persona and informal work masks the deeper coherence of his ideological commitments to the scientific management of human evolution, commitments which weave through the entirety of his research program. Huxley aimed to establish the biologist’s role for engineering human evolution towards sets of ideals conceived by the educated elite.