The Pence Lab

Research group in philosophy and history of biology and digital humanities

EvoCult

"EvoCult" for "Evolutionary Culture Study" is a project aims at understanding the constraints to knowledge integration (CKI) in the field of "Cultural Evolution Studies". To do so, it relies heavily on computer-assisted approaches for digital humanities. It aims at identifying the source of conflict (epistemological and non-epistemological) that limit the integration in the field.

The project consist in three work packages (WP) :

• WP1 : reconstructing the epistemic communities present in the field of cultural evolution studies (replication and extension of Youngblood and Lahti 2018 analysis);
• WP2 : study of the type CKI in effect in the field and their respective relevant (through n-mode approach proposed by Hellsten, Opthof, and Leydesdorff (2020);
• WP3 : a full scale analysis of what type of CKI are at play in the field, how these are related, and how their importance vary through the field.

As collateral product, part of the same data collected for the project was used for :

• a Blackwell chapter on the use of digital approaches in philosophy of science.

The project was also proposed for funding opportunities such as :

• Postdoctoral fellowship from Québec FRQ research fund (B3Z)