Project acronym INDIRECT
Project Intergenerational Cumulative Disadvantage and Resource Compensation
Researcher (PI) Jani Petteri Erola
Host Institution (HI) TURUN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary "The previous literature has not been able to successfully explain why the loss of the certain family resources does not show as a weaker attainment. Neither the country differences in socioeconomic inheritance seem to reflect the institutional differences between them. We argue that these problems have followed from ignoring resource compensation. The lost capital (economic, human/cultural or social) may be replaced with the other types or with the resources of someone else (the new or extended family members or neighbors). European and other developed societies can be distinguished by their abilities to influence the compensation of the loss of the parental resources rather than by their direct impact on inheritance.
We study compensation in three analytic contexts:
1) Life-course changes followed by the loss of parental resources. The specific events to be considered are parental bereavement, separation, unemployment and geographical mobility.
2) Period changes in society reducing resources in many families approximately at the same time. The examples to be analyzed are economic recession, the inflation of educational credentials due to increasing overall level of education and changing family structures and family formation processes.
3) Structural disadvantage associated with lower level of parental resources. The forms of inequality to be analyzed include the number of siblings sharing the parental resources and childhood neighborhood and the compensation of low resources with the resources of the parents of the spouse.
We use high level Finnish register panel data to analyze the loss compensation after specific life course events. The results are compared to those acquired from German SOEP data and US-based PSID data. Multiple country comparisons are conducted using ESS. The project combines three novel analytic approaches: sibling correlation methods, conditional multinomial (event history) models and sequence analysis."
Summary
"The previous literature has not been able to successfully explain why the loss of the certain family resources does not show as a weaker attainment. Neither the country differences in socioeconomic inheritance seem to reflect the institutional differences between them. We argue that these problems have followed from ignoring resource compensation. The lost capital (economic, human/cultural or social) may be replaced with the other types or with the resources of someone else (the new or extended family members or neighbors). European and other developed societies can be distinguished by their abilities to influence the compensation of the loss of the parental resources rather than by their direct impact on inheritance.
We study compensation in three analytic contexts:
1) Life-course changes followed by the loss of parental resources. The specific events to be considered are parental bereavement, separation, unemployment and geographical mobility.
2) Period changes in society reducing resources in many families approximately at the same time. The examples to be analyzed are economic recession, the inflation of educational credentials due to increasing overall level of education and changing family structures and family formation processes.
3) Structural disadvantage associated with lower level of parental resources. The forms of inequality to be analyzed include the number of siblings sharing the parental resources and childhood neighborhood and the compensation of low resources with the resources of the parents of the spouse.
We use high level Finnish register panel data to analyze the loss compensation after specific life course events. The results are compared to those acquired from German SOEP data and US-based PSID data. Multiple country comparisons are conducted using ESS. The project combines three novel analytic approaches: sibling correlation methods, conditional multinomial (event history) models and sequence analysis."
Max ERC Funding
1 880 328 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym ISLHORNAFR
Project Islam in the Horn of Africa: A Comparative Literary Approach
Researcher (PI) Alessandro Gori
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "The study of Africa as a region ""peripheral"" to mainstream Islamic studies helps a deeper understanding of the cultural dynamics of Islam. While North African Islam has been subject to extensive research, the Muslim cultures of sub-Saharan Africa have received relatively little attention; most of it paid to West African regions. This project will contribute to both African and Islamic studies by producing for the first time a critical evaluation of textual witnesses of Islamic culture in the Horn of Africa (esp. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland) and therefore considerably contribute to the change in the state-of-the-art in both Islamic and African studies.
The comparative study will be the first to assess simultaneously types and contents of texts, their transmission history, and the role they (as well as the respective authors and copyists) have played in the culture and identity formation in both the Horn of Africa and the “heartland” Islamic countries. Both Arabic texts as well as those written in local languages (using Arabic alphabet: ajami) will be considered, allowing an evaluation of linguistic and cultural influences. A reevaluation of the external Islamic sources dealing with these areas will complete the picture.
Competences in philology, history, manuscript studies, linguistics and computer science will be merged in producing a Digital Research Environment for North-East African Islam. More than a corpus of centrally collected data, it will include images accompanied by searchable descriptive metadata, digital text editions, bibliography as well as an open access database for quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of text and documentary corpora as well as their linguistic and graphic features will serve as a tool for the project and as a basis for future research.
The research findings will provide a deeper understanding of Muslim thought and proselytism, and the effects Islam has had on society."
Summary
"The study of Africa as a region ""peripheral"" to mainstream Islamic studies helps a deeper understanding of the cultural dynamics of Islam. While North African Islam has been subject to extensive research, the Muslim cultures of sub-Saharan Africa have received relatively little attention; most of it paid to West African regions. This project will contribute to both African and Islamic studies by producing for the first time a critical evaluation of textual witnesses of Islamic culture in the Horn of Africa (esp. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland) and therefore considerably contribute to the change in the state-of-the-art in both Islamic and African studies.
The comparative study will be the first to assess simultaneously types and contents of texts, their transmission history, and the role they (as well as the respective authors and copyists) have played in the culture and identity formation in both the Horn of Africa and the “heartland” Islamic countries. Both Arabic texts as well as those written in local languages (using Arabic alphabet: ajami) will be considered, allowing an evaluation of linguistic and cultural influences. A reevaluation of the external Islamic sources dealing with these areas will complete the picture.
Competences in philology, history, manuscript studies, linguistics and computer science will be merged in producing a Digital Research Environment for North-East African Islam. More than a corpus of centrally collected data, it will include images accompanied by searchable descriptive metadata, digital text editions, bibliography as well as an open access database for quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of text and documentary corpora as well as their linguistic and graphic features will serve as a tool for the project and as a basis for future research.
The research findings will provide a deeper understanding of Muslim thought and proselytism, and the effects Islam has had on society."
Max ERC Funding
1 550 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-07-01, End date: 2018-12-31
Project acronym ITEPE
Project Institutional Transformation in European Political Economy
- A Socio-Legal Approach
Researcher (PI) Poul Fritz Kjær
Host Institution (HI) COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary The objective is to develop a socio-legal theory explaining the institutional transformations from corporatism over neo-corporatism to governance and the role of law and legal instruments within the 3 types of institutions.
The period of investigation covers the period between 1850 and today and is limited to the European setting.
The core hypothesis is that corporatism, neo-corporatism and governance fulfil identical societal functions under altered structural conditions insofar as they simultaneously are oriented towards the internal stabilisation of economic processes and the establishment of compatibility with non-economic segments of society. The successful fulfilment of this dual function is furthermore conditioned upon a reliance on formalised legal frameworks.
In concrete the project wishes to provide an alternative to the a-historical nature of contemporary governance research; counter the lack of a dynamic perspective within the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach; offset the reductionist stance of political economy studies as reflected in the narrowing of economy and society relations to the binary relationship between economy and politics; develop a theoretical framework capable of connecting a wide range of so far disperse academic discourses such as governance research, political economy and socio-legal studies; provide a central contribution to a new inter-systemic theory of society.
The project contains detailed case studies in relation to the development of institutional stabilisation within the European steel and pharmaceutical sectors.
Summary
The objective is to develop a socio-legal theory explaining the institutional transformations from corporatism over neo-corporatism to governance and the role of law and legal instruments within the 3 types of institutions.
The period of investigation covers the period between 1850 and today and is limited to the European setting.
The core hypothesis is that corporatism, neo-corporatism and governance fulfil identical societal functions under altered structural conditions insofar as they simultaneously are oriented towards the internal stabilisation of economic processes and the establishment of compatibility with non-economic segments of society. The successful fulfilment of this dual function is furthermore conditioned upon a reliance on formalised legal frameworks.
In concrete the project wishes to provide an alternative to the a-historical nature of contemporary governance research; counter the lack of a dynamic perspective within the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach; offset the reductionist stance of political economy studies as reflected in the narrowing of economy and society relations to the binary relationship between economy and politics; develop a theoretical framework capable of connecting a wide range of so far disperse academic discourses such as governance research, political economy and socio-legal studies; provide a central contribution to a new inter-systemic theory of society.
The project contains detailed case studies in relation to the development of institutional stabilisation within the European steel and pharmaceutical sectors.
Max ERC Funding
1 175 210 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2017-07-31
Project acronym JAXPERTISE
Project Joint action expertise: Behavioral, cognitive, and neural mechanisms for joint action learning
Researcher (PI) Natalie Sebanz
Host Institution (HI) KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Human life is full of joint action and our achievements are, to a large extent, joint achievements that require the coordination of two or more individuals. Piano duets and tangos, but also complex technical and medical operations rely on and exist because of coordinated actions. In recent years, research has begun to identify the basic mechanisms of joint action. This work focused on simple tasks that can be performed together without practice. However, a striking aspect of human joint action is the expertise interaction partners acquire together. How people acquire joint expertise is still poorly understood. JAXPERTISE will break new ground by identifying the behavioural, cognitive, and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of joint action. Participating in joint activities is also a motor for individual development. Although this has long been recognized, the mechanisms underlying individual learning through engagement in joint activities remain to be spelled out from a cognitive science perspective. JAXPERTISE will make this crucial step by investigating how joint action affects source memory, semantic memory, and individual skill learning. Carefully designed experiments will optimize the balance between capturing relevant interpersonal phenomena and maximizing experimental control. The proposed studies employ behavioural measures, electroencephalography, and physiological measures. Studies tracing learning processes in novices will be complemented by studies analyzing expert performance in music and dance. New approaches, such as training participants to regulate each other’s brain activity, will lead to methodological breakthroughs. JAXPERTISE will generate basic scientific knowledge that will be relevant to a large number of different disciplines in the social sciences, cognitive sciences, and humanities. The insights gained in this project will have impact on the design of robot helpers and the development of social training interventions.
Summary
Human life is full of joint action and our achievements are, to a large extent, joint achievements that require the coordination of two or more individuals. Piano duets and tangos, but also complex technical and medical operations rely on and exist because of coordinated actions. In recent years, research has begun to identify the basic mechanisms of joint action. This work focused on simple tasks that can be performed together without practice. However, a striking aspect of human joint action is the expertise interaction partners acquire together. How people acquire joint expertise is still poorly understood. JAXPERTISE will break new ground by identifying the behavioural, cognitive, and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of joint action. Participating in joint activities is also a motor for individual development. Although this has long been recognized, the mechanisms underlying individual learning through engagement in joint activities remain to be spelled out from a cognitive science perspective. JAXPERTISE will make this crucial step by investigating how joint action affects source memory, semantic memory, and individual skill learning. Carefully designed experiments will optimize the balance between capturing relevant interpersonal phenomena and maximizing experimental control. The proposed studies employ behavioural measures, electroencephalography, and physiological measures. Studies tracing learning processes in novices will be complemented by studies analyzing expert performance in music and dance. New approaches, such as training participants to regulate each other’s brain activity, will lead to methodological breakthroughs. JAXPERTISE will generate basic scientific knowledge that will be relevant to a large number of different disciplines in the social sciences, cognitive sciences, and humanities. The insights gained in this project will have impact on the design of robot helpers and the development of social training interventions.
Max ERC Funding
1 992 331 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2019-07-31
Project acronym JustSites
Project The Global Sites of International Criminal Justice
Researcher (PI) Mikkel Jarle CHRISTENSEN
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2018-STG
Summary JustSites studies the multitude of localities in which international criminal justice is produced, received and has impact. Building an innovative scientific vocabulary, the project understands these justice sites to be social topographies in which the political, legal and professional activities that collectively create international criminal justice are developed. The justice sites include locations in which forensic exhumations are carried out, NGO offices in conflict zones, foreign ministries, private law firms, media outlets, academic research centers, and the international criminal courts. These sites are closely related, and all depend on and compete with each other to define the direction of international criminal justice. With its analysis of justice sites, the project moves beyond the conventional focus on courts and their context to investigate instead the balances of authority and power that affect the relations between these topographies and thus drive the development of international criminal justice as a field of law. To investigate the relational topography of justice sites, the multidisciplinary project analyzes how these sites produce international criminal justice ideas and practices, and how such ideas and practices are received and have impact in other sites. By following the impact of ideas and practices as they move from one site to another, the relative and perceived authority and power of these sites will be identified and analyzed. Through their productive and receptive character, the justice sites also communicate the results of international criminal justice to broader audiences, labelling them in the process as a success or a failure. Therefore, contributing the first investigation of the topography of justice sites is not only of significant value as frontier research, but is crucial for understanding the wider societal, legal and political impact of this field of law.
Summary
JustSites studies the multitude of localities in which international criminal justice is produced, received and has impact. Building an innovative scientific vocabulary, the project understands these justice sites to be social topographies in which the political, legal and professional activities that collectively create international criminal justice are developed. The justice sites include locations in which forensic exhumations are carried out, NGO offices in conflict zones, foreign ministries, private law firms, media outlets, academic research centers, and the international criminal courts. These sites are closely related, and all depend on and compete with each other to define the direction of international criminal justice. With its analysis of justice sites, the project moves beyond the conventional focus on courts and their context to investigate instead the balances of authority and power that affect the relations between these topographies and thus drive the development of international criminal justice as a field of law. To investigate the relational topography of justice sites, the multidisciplinary project analyzes how these sites produce international criminal justice ideas and practices, and how such ideas and practices are received and have impact in other sites. By following the impact of ideas and practices as they move from one site to another, the relative and perceived authority and power of these sites will be identified and analyzed. Through their productive and receptive character, the justice sites also communicate the results of international criminal justice to broader audiences, labelling them in the process as a success or a failure. Therefore, contributing the first investigation of the topography of justice sites is not only of significant value as frontier research, but is crucial for understanding the wider societal, legal and political impact of this field of law.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 436 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31
Project acronym KNOWLEDGEFLOWS
Project Channels and Consequences of Knowledge Flows
from Developed Economies to Central and Eastern Europe
Researcher (PI) Miklós Koren
Host Institution (HI) KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary In this project, I study how economic development is shaped by cross-country knowledge flows via trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and other channels. Using novel micro data for several Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, I measure the quantitative importance of three channels: technical knowledge embodied in imported machinery, technical and organizational knowledge embodied in expatriate managers, and disembodied knowledge transfers taking place within multinational firms. I then analyze what impact foreign knowledge has on the firms and the workers of the host economy, and what are its implications for aggregate productivity and income inequality.
The project relies on several existing databases for Hungary and Romania, which will be complemented with newly purchased, collected and compiled data. The outcome of the project will be seven research studies and a collection of firm-level data sets covering CEE countries, including a large cross-country firm survey on the local supplier linkages of multinational companies.
My proposed project improves upon the state of the art in four ways. First, as a comprehensive study using novel micro data, it uncovers new facts about the relative importance of the channels of knowledge flows. Second, it improves the identification of causal effects relative to existing studies by exploiting the detailed micro data. Third, it uses the micro estimates to quantify the aggregate impact of foreign knowledge on the economy. Fourth, it discusses how foreign knowledge affects different firms and workers differently, and, more specifically, how it may contribute to income inequality.
More broadly, the research findings help evaluate the relative efficacy of trade, FDI, and immigration policies in promoting economic growth and can inform theories about the channels and barriers of productivity convergence.
Summary
In this project, I study how economic development is shaped by cross-country knowledge flows via trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and other channels. Using novel micro data for several Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, I measure the quantitative importance of three channels: technical knowledge embodied in imported machinery, technical and organizational knowledge embodied in expatriate managers, and disembodied knowledge transfers taking place within multinational firms. I then analyze what impact foreign knowledge has on the firms and the workers of the host economy, and what are its implications for aggregate productivity and income inequality.
The project relies on several existing databases for Hungary and Romania, which will be complemented with newly purchased, collected and compiled data. The outcome of the project will be seven research studies and a collection of firm-level data sets covering CEE countries, including a large cross-country firm survey on the local supplier linkages of multinational companies.
My proposed project improves upon the state of the art in four ways. First, as a comprehensive study using novel micro data, it uncovers new facts about the relative importance of the channels of knowledge flows. Second, it improves the identification of causal effects relative to existing studies by exploiting the detailed micro data. Third, it uses the micro estimates to quantify the aggregate impact of foreign knowledge on the economy. Fourth, it discusses how foreign knowledge affects different firms and workers differently, and, more specifically, how it may contribute to income inequality.
More broadly, the research findings help evaluate the relative efficacy of trade, FDI, and immigration policies in promoting economic growth and can inform theories about the channels and barriers of productivity convergence.
Max ERC Funding
1 313 776 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30
Project acronym LCC
Project Coupled Cluster Calculations on Large Molecular Systems
Researcher (PI) Poul Jørgensen
Host Institution (HI) AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE4, ERC-2011-ADG_20110209
Summary Quantum mechanics provides the key to the understanding of the molecular world. Many years of theoretical research have made coupled cluster calculations the state-of-the-art method for small molecules, where calculations have reached an accuracy often challenging experimental results. To describe large molecular systems with coupled cluster methods, the computational scaling with the system size of existing methods represents a roadblock to progress. The ultimate goal is to obtain coupled cluster methods that scale linearly with system size and where the calculations are embarrassingly parallel, such that calculations for small and large molecular systems require the same computational wall time. This proposal describes how this goal may be accomplished. The key is to express the coupled cluster wave function in a basis of local Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals. We have recently shown how such a local HF basis may be obtained and described how linear-scaling, embarrassingly parallel coupled cluster energies may be obtained. Here we present proof-of-concept calculations for the energy and the molecular gradient for the simple model MP2 (second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory) and propose to use the same technology for higher level coupled cluster methods to yield not only the energy of a large molecule, but also molecular properties as the equilibrium geometry, harmonic frequencies, excitation energies and transition moments, nuclear shieldings, polarizabilities and electronic and vibrational circular dichroism. This proposal will open a new era of accurate quantum calculations on large molecular systems such as nanoparticles and proteins. The presented developments will accelerate research, not only in chemistry and physics, but in molecular science and engineering in general.
Summary
Quantum mechanics provides the key to the understanding of the molecular world. Many years of theoretical research have made coupled cluster calculations the state-of-the-art method for small molecules, where calculations have reached an accuracy often challenging experimental results. To describe large molecular systems with coupled cluster methods, the computational scaling with the system size of existing methods represents a roadblock to progress. The ultimate goal is to obtain coupled cluster methods that scale linearly with system size and where the calculations are embarrassingly parallel, such that calculations for small and large molecular systems require the same computational wall time. This proposal describes how this goal may be accomplished. The key is to express the coupled cluster wave function in a basis of local Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals. We have recently shown how such a local HF basis may be obtained and described how linear-scaling, embarrassingly parallel coupled cluster energies may be obtained. Here we present proof-of-concept calculations for the energy and the molecular gradient for the simple model MP2 (second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory) and propose to use the same technology for higher level coupled cluster methods to yield not only the energy of a large molecule, but also molecular properties as the equilibrium geometry, harmonic frequencies, excitation energies and transition moments, nuclear shieldings, polarizabilities and electronic and vibrational circular dichroism. This proposal will open a new era of accurate quantum calculations on large molecular systems such as nanoparticles and proteins. The presented developments will accelerate research, not only in chemistry and physics, but in molecular science and engineering in general.
Max ERC Funding
1 738 432 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-05-01, End date: 2017-04-30
Project acronym LETHE
Project Levels and Trends of Health Expectancy: Understanding its Measurement and Estimation Sensitivity
Researcher (PI) Marc Anton Luy
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Better health is central to human happiness and wellbeing. It also contributes substantially to economic progress, as healthy populations live longer and are more productive. Accordingly, the EU defined the improvement of health as a fundamental element of its “Europe 2020” strategy. The corresponding public health policies are assessed on the basis of a structural indicator for “Health Expectancy” (HE). Unfortunately, HE estimates are extremely sensitive to certain methodological issues of which many are widely ignored. First, the common measurement of population health by the responses to specific survey questions is ambiguous. As a consequence, statistics on levels and trends of HE vary significantly depending on the underlying survey data and health indicators. Almost completely unrecognized is a second problem: HE estimates are also highly sensitive to particular technical features, e.g. the age range and partitioning selected for analysis and the technique chosen to add the health dimension to the life table. The efforts that have been hitherto undertaken to improve the estimation of HE focus primarily on the measurement of health with surveys, whereas the effects of the chosen HE indicator, data and method remain largely unexplored. The central aim of LETHE is to fill these gaps through a systematic exploration of the HE indicator’s sensitivity to these issues. To emphasize the empirical significance of the proposed research, the effects will be investigated in the context of some major actual research questions, in particular the “compression versus expansion of morbidity” debate and the differences in HE between European populations and subpopulations. Finally, the project aims to identify the particular health measure that is most strongly associated with people’s actual happiness. These innovative approaches feature the potential to provide not only new insights into the levels and trends of HE, but also about its main drivers and causation mechanisms.
Summary
Better health is central to human happiness and wellbeing. It also contributes substantially to economic progress, as healthy populations live longer and are more productive. Accordingly, the EU defined the improvement of health as a fundamental element of its “Europe 2020” strategy. The corresponding public health policies are assessed on the basis of a structural indicator for “Health Expectancy” (HE). Unfortunately, HE estimates are extremely sensitive to certain methodological issues of which many are widely ignored. First, the common measurement of population health by the responses to specific survey questions is ambiguous. As a consequence, statistics on levels and trends of HE vary significantly depending on the underlying survey data and health indicators. Almost completely unrecognized is a second problem: HE estimates are also highly sensitive to particular technical features, e.g. the age range and partitioning selected for analysis and the technique chosen to add the health dimension to the life table. The efforts that have been hitherto undertaken to improve the estimation of HE focus primarily on the measurement of health with surveys, whereas the effects of the chosen HE indicator, data and method remain largely unexplored. The central aim of LETHE is to fill these gaps through a systematic exploration of the HE indicator’s sensitivity to these issues. To emphasize the empirical significance of the proposed research, the effects will be investigated in the context of some major actual research questions, in particular the “compression versus expansion of morbidity” debate and the differences in HE between European populations and subpopulations. Finally, the project aims to identify the particular health measure that is most strongly associated with people’s actual happiness. These innovative approaches feature the potential to provide not only new insights into the levels and trends of HE, but also about its main drivers and causation mechanisms.
Max ERC Funding
1 713 353 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym LIFEMODE
Project Possible Life: The Philosophical Significance of Extending Biology
Researcher (PI) Tarja Tellervo Knuuttila
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Possible Life: The Philosophical Significance of Extending Biology
Due to the latest technological advances in genetic engineering and space technology, scientists have developed strategies to engineer novel biological systems in laboratories, and to study through space telescopes the signs of possible life from other planets and solar systems. These newly discovered biological possibilities may turn out to be epoch-making. Apart from challenging our notion of life, they also have fundamental philosophical implications. The very question motivating the project is: How is biology being extended beyond the actual evolved life on Earth – and what is the philosophical significance of the turn to possible life? This question is studied through a two-pronged approach that puts scientific practice into a dialogue with philosophy of science and naturalistic metaphysics.
First, the project examines the emerging fields of synthetic biology and astrobiology. The key themes studied include unnatural biochemical bases and organizational principles of life, synthetic life, evolutionary possibilities and constraints, and the habitability of exoplanets. Empirical studies in six leading laboratories in Europe and the US are used to inform the study of these themes. Second, the research on possible life is employed as a resource for the development of philosophical theory. The three philosophical subprojects examine (i) modelling and simulating the possible, (ii) multiple realizability of biological kinds, and (iii) contingency and necessity in biology.
The project will advance our understanding of the modal dimension of science by addressing a paramount case – life. The project draws together and develops diverse strands in theorizing of the possible within philosophy of science and metaphysics. Through an unconventional combination of philosophical and empirical analysis the project seeks to facilitate the application of metaphysical concepts to cutting-edge scientific research.
Summary
Possible Life: The Philosophical Significance of Extending Biology
Due to the latest technological advances in genetic engineering and space technology, scientists have developed strategies to engineer novel biological systems in laboratories, and to study through space telescopes the signs of possible life from other planets and solar systems. These newly discovered biological possibilities may turn out to be epoch-making. Apart from challenging our notion of life, they also have fundamental philosophical implications. The very question motivating the project is: How is biology being extended beyond the actual evolved life on Earth – and what is the philosophical significance of the turn to possible life? This question is studied through a two-pronged approach that puts scientific practice into a dialogue with philosophy of science and naturalistic metaphysics.
First, the project examines the emerging fields of synthetic biology and astrobiology. The key themes studied include unnatural biochemical bases and organizational principles of life, synthetic life, evolutionary possibilities and constraints, and the habitability of exoplanets. Empirical studies in six leading laboratories in Europe and the US are used to inform the study of these themes. Second, the research on possible life is employed as a resource for the development of philosophical theory. The three philosophical subprojects examine (i) modelling and simulating the possible, (ii) multiple realizability of biological kinds, and (iii) contingency and necessity in biology.
The project will advance our understanding of the modal dimension of science by addressing a paramount case – life. The project draws together and develops diverse strands in theorizing of the possible within philosophy of science and metaphysics. Through an unconventional combination of philosophical and empirical analysis the project seeks to facilitate the application of metaphysical concepts to cutting-edge scientific research.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 566 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
Project acronym Local State
Project State Formation Through the Local Production of Property and Citizenship
Researcher (PI) Christian Lund
Host Institution (HI) KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary The key concern of the proposed research is how political power is established and reproduced through the production of the fundamental social contracts of property and citizenship. We will re-define the research on so-called failed and weak states, by examining what political authority is actually exercised rather than measuring how they fall short of theoretical ideals.
In developing countries with legal and institutional pluralism, no single institution exercises the political authority as such. Different institutions compete to define and enforce rights to property and citizenship. This is most visible at the local level, yet it has implications for theorizing the state as such. Hence, investigating the social production of property and citizenship is a way to study state formation. We study local institutions that exercise political authority and govern access to resources, and recognition of these rights. What institution guarantees what claims as rights, and, especially, how, is crucial, as it leads to the recognition of that particular institution as a political authority. We therefore study statutory as well as non-statutory institutions. We are not simply looking for property deeds and passports etc. issued by statutory government as measurements of political authority. Rather, we look for secondary forms of recognition ‘issued’ by non-statutory institutions that represent mutual acknowledgements of claims even without a narrow legal endorsement. Dynamics such as these are fundamental for a concise understanding of developing country state formation processes.
Ten country studies with rural and urban field sites will be conducted. We focus on concrete controversies. We collect data at several levels and from different sources, including resident groups, land users, local civil servants, local politicians and business-owners, as well as large-scale contractors, municipal politicians and administrators.
Summary
The key concern of the proposed research is how political power is established and reproduced through the production of the fundamental social contracts of property and citizenship. We will re-define the research on so-called failed and weak states, by examining what political authority is actually exercised rather than measuring how they fall short of theoretical ideals.
In developing countries with legal and institutional pluralism, no single institution exercises the political authority as such. Different institutions compete to define and enforce rights to property and citizenship. This is most visible at the local level, yet it has implications for theorizing the state as such. Hence, investigating the social production of property and citizenship is a way to study state formation. We study local institutions that exercise political authority and govern access to resources, and recognition of these rights. What institution guarantees what claims as rights, and, especially, how, is crucial, as it leads to the recognition of that particular institution as a political authority. We therefore study statutory as well as non-statutory institutions. We are not simply looking for property deeds and passports etc. issued by statutory government as measurements of political authority. Rather, we look for secondary forms of recognition ‘issued’ by non-statutory institutions that represent mutual acknowledgements of claims even without a narrow legal endorsement. Dynamics such as these are fundamental for a concise understanding of developing country state formation processes.
Ten country studies with rural and urban field sites will be conducted. We focus on concrete controversies. We collect data at several levels and from different sources, including resident groups, land users, local civil servants, local politicians and business-owners, as well as large-scale contractors, municipal politicians and administrators.
Max ERC Funding
2 469 285 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31
