Doing Integrated History and Philosophy of Science: A Case Study of the Origin of Genetics

Yafeng Shan is research associate in philosophy at the University of Kent. He has previously held teaching and research positions at Tel Aviv University and Durham University. He completed his PhD at University College London. His research interest is primarily in philosophy of science, epistemology, and metaphysics. He has published research articles in Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and Philosophy Compass.

“This is an interesting book. … the volume offers new insights about the history of early genetics, and shows clearly the value of doing integrated history and philosophy of science.” (Kostas Kampourakis, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 98 (4), December, 2023)“As a fellow-traveler in integrated HPS, I agree wholeheartedly with Shan that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And the numerous interesting, nuanced insights that his approach allows us to bring to the incredibly fruitful period of the development of early genetics makes the work done here worthy of the attention of any scholar interested either in this particular case study or in the prospects more generally for integrated HPS work, both within and beyond the life sciences.” (Charles H. Pence, Metascience, April 12, 2022)

• 1. Introduction.- Part I. History.- 2. Mendel’s Pisum Revisited.- 3. De Vries’ Mendelism Reassessed.- 4. Weldon’s Choice Reconsidered.- Part II. Integrated HPS.- 5. Exemplarising the Origin of Genetics.- 6. A Functional Account of the Progress in Early Genetics.- 7. The Problem of the Long Neglect Revisited: An Exemplar-based Explanation.- Part III. Philosophy.- 8. A New Mode of Conceptual Continuity.- 9. The Gap Problem in Hypothetico-Deductivism.- 10. Promisingness in Theory Choice.