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14Repertoires: how to transform a project into a research communityBioScience 65 (7): 701-708. 2015.How effectively communities of scientists come together and co-operate is crucial both to the quality of research outputs and to the extent to which such outputs integrate insights, data and methods from a variety of fields, laboratories and locations around the globe. This essay focuses on the ensemble of material and social conditions that makes it possible for a short-term collaboration, set up to accomplish a specific task, to give rise to relatively stable communities of researchers. We ref…Read more
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44Model OrganismsCambridge University Press. 2020.This Element presents a philosophical exploration of the concept of the 'model organism' in contemporary biology. Thinking about model organisms enables us to examine how living organisms have been brought into the laboratory and used to gain a better understanding of biology, and to explore the research practices, commitments, and norms underlying this understanding. We contend that model organisms are key components of a distinctive way of doing research. We focus on what makes model organisms…Read more
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3Not just about “the science”: science education and attitudes to genetically modified foods among women in AustraliaNew Genetics and Society 36 (1): 1-21. 2017.Previous studies investigating attitudes to genetically modified (GM) foods suggest a correlation between negative attitudes and low levels of science education, both of which are associated with women. In a qualitative focus group study of Australian women with diverse levels of education, we found attitudes to GM foods were part of a complex process of making “good” food decisions, which included other factors such as locally produced, fresh/natural, healthy and nutritious, and convenient. Wom…Read more
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7Wormy Logic: Model Organisms as Case-Based ReasoningIn Angela N. H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck, M. Norton Wise, Barbara Herrnstein Smith & E. Roy Weintraub (eds.), Science without Laws: Model Systems, Cases, Exemplary Narratives, Duke University Press. pp. 46-58. 2007.
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227. Valuing Data in Postgenomic BiologyIn Sarah S. Richardson & Hallam Stevens (eds.), Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome, Duke University Press. pp. 126-149. 2015.
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51‘Extreme’ organisms and the problem of generalization: interpreting the Krogh principleHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 40 (4): 65. 2018.Many biologists appeal to the so-called Krogh principle when justifying their choice of experimental organisms. The principle states that “for a large number of problems there will be some animal of choice, or a few such animals, on which it can be most conveniently studied”. Despite its popularity, the principle is often critiqued for implying unwarranted generalizations from optimal models. We argue that the Krogh principle should be interpreted in relation to the historical and scientific con…Read more
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100Re-thinking organisms: The impact of databases on model organism biologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (1): 29-36. 2012.Community databases have become crucial to the collection, ordering and retrieval of data gathered on model organisms, as well as to the ways in which these data are interpreted and used across a range of research contexts. This paper analyses the impact of community databases on research practices in model organism biology by focusing on the history and current use of four community databases: FlyBase, Mouse Genome Informatics, WormBase and The Arabidopsis Information Resource. We discuss the s…Read more
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42How to choose your research organismStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 80 101227. 2020.
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151Repertoires: A post-Kuhnian perspective on scientific change and collaborative researchStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 60 18-28. 2016.not available.
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53Making Organisms Model Human Behavior: Situated Models in North-American Alcohol Research, since 1950Science in Context 27 (3): 485-509. 2014.ArgumentWe examine the criteria used to validate the use of nonhuman organisms in North-American alcohol addiction research from the 1950s to the present day. We argue that this field, where the similarities between behaviors in humans and non-humans are particularly difficult to assess, has addressed questions of model validity by transforming the situatedness of non-human organisms into an experimental tool. We demonstrate that model validity does not hinge on the standardization of one type o…Read more
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561What’s so special about model organisms?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (2): 313-323. 2011.This paper aims to identify the key characteristics of model organisms that make them a specific type of model within the contemporary life sciences: in particular, we argue that the term “model organism” does not apply to all organisms used for the purposes of experimental research. We explore the differences between experimental and model organisms in terms of their material and epistemic features, and argue that it is essential to distinguish between their representational scope and represent…Read more
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234Introduction: philosophy of science in practice (review)European Journal for Philosophy of Science 1 (3): 303-307. 2011.Introduction: philosophy of science in practice Content Type Journal Article Category Editorial Article Pages 303-307 DOI 10.1007/s13194-011-0036-4 Authors Rachel Ankeny, School of History & Politics, University of Adelaide, Napier Building, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia Hasok Chang, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RH UK Marcel Boumans, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam…Read more
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37Bioethics Authorship in Context: How Trends in Biomedicine Challenge BioethicsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 11 (10). 2011.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 10, Page 22-24, October 2011
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30Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “The Ethos and Ethics of Translational Research”American Journal of Bioethics 8 (3): 1-3. 2008.Calls for the “translation” of research from bench to bedside are increasingly demanding. What is translation, and why does it matter? We sketch the recent history of outcome-oriented translational research in the United States, with a particular focus on the Roadmap Initiative of the National Institutes of Health. Our main example of contemporary translational research is stem cell research, which has superseded genomics as the translational object of choice. We explore the nature of and obstac…Read more
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35Values of Australian Meat Consumers Related to Sheep and Beef Cattle Welfare: What Makes a Good Life and a Good Death?Food Ethics 8 (1): 1-17. 2022.There has been growing global interest in livestock animal welfare. Previous research into attitudes towards animal welfare has focused on Europe and the United States, with comparatively little focus on Australia, which is an important location due to the prominent position of agriculture economically and culturally. In this article, we present results from qualitative research on how Australian meat consumers conceptualise sheep and beef cattle welfare. The study was conducted in two capital c…Read more
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The case study in medicineIn Miriam Solomon, Jeremy R. Simon & Harold Kincaid (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine, Routledge. 2016.
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35Second Biennial Conference of the Society for Philosophy of Science in PracticeJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 41 (1): 233-235. 2010.
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11Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Developing a Reflexive, Anticipatory, and Deliberative Approach to Unanticipated Discoveries: Ethical Lessons from iBlastoids”American Journal of Bioethics 22 (2). 2022.In “Developing a Reflexive, Anticipatory, and Deliberative Approach to Unanticipated Discoveries: Ethical Lessons from iBlastoids,” we proposed a RAD approach to meet the challenging issues...
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3Big Picture Bioethics: Developing Democratic Policy in Contested Domains (edited book)Imprint: Springer. 2016.This book addresses the problem of how to make democratically-legitimate public policy on issues of contentious bioethical debate. It focuses on ethical contests about research and their legitimate resolution, while addressing questions of political legitimacy. How should states make public policy on issues where there is ethical disagreement, not only about appropriate outcomes, but even what values are at stake? What constitutes justified, democratic policy in such conflicted domains? Case stu…Read more
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32Developing a Reflexive, Anticipatory, and Deliberative Approach to Unanticipated Discoveries: Ethical Lessons from iBlastoidsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 22 (1): 36-45. 2021.In this paper, we explore the recent creation of “iBlastoids,” which are 3-D structures that resemble early human embryos prior to implantation which formed via self-organization of reprogrammed ad...
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95Religious perspectives on embryo donation and researchClinical Ethics 5 (1): 35-45. 2010.The success of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) worldwide has led to an accumulation of frozen embryos that are surplus to the reproductive needs of those for whom they were created. In these situations, couples must decide whether to discard them or donate them for scientific research or for use by other infertile couples. While legislation and regulation may limit the decisions that couples make, their decisions are often shaped by their religious beliefs. Unfortunately, health profes…Read more
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43Testing the Correlates of Consciousness in Brain Organoids: How Do We Know and What Do We Do?American Journal of Bioethics 21 (1): 51-53. 2021.What consciousness exactly is remains an unsettled issue among both philosophers and biologists. Three aspects of consciousness are generally recognized: awareness consciousness (through connection...
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15Book ForumStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 84 101330. 2020.
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13Nicole C. Nelson, Model Behavior: Animal Experiments, Complexity, and the Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), 272 pp., 6 b&w illus., $30.00 Paperback, ISBN: 9780226546087 (review)Journal of the History of Biology 53 (4): 657-658. 2020.
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105Regulation of hESC research in australia: Promises and pitfalls for deliberative democratic approachesJournal of Bioethical Inquiry 3 (1-2): 95-107. 2006.This paper considers the legislative debates in Australia that led to the passage of the Research Involving Human Embryos Act (Cth 2002) and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act (Cth 2002). In the first part of the paper, we discuss the debate surrounding the legislation with particular emphasis on the ways in which demands for public consultation, public debate and the education of Australians about the potential ethical and scientific impact of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) research were d…Read more
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University of AdelaideDepartment of Historical and Classical Studies
Department of PhilosophyProfessor
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |