Mission
The Consortium for Advancing a Science of Purpose (CASP) extends and develops innovative research structures and activities in support of interdisciplinary work in the life sciences.
We engage a broad community of scholars by bringing together philosophers, theoreticians, and experimentalists to advance the scientific investigation of topics in the life sciences related to the complex theme of teleology (i.e., the study of purposiveness), which includes a variety of contested concepts (e.g., agency, directionality, function, goal-directedness) related to phenomena across spatial and temporal scales. Our aim is to:
- Articulate more precise concepts
- Develop new formal models
- Make notions operational for accurate measurement
- Trial and implement methods and platforms to detect and manipulate features of living systems.
Goals
We are working to:
- Build conceptual, theoretical, and empirical capacity and resources
- Facilitate new research configurations and strategies for distinct advancements in interdisciplinary inquiry
- Create and nurture a community of scholars pursuing these themes from diverse starting points
- Share our working practices and research findings with other scholars and the general public
Consortium activities in support of these goals include:
- Interdisciplinary workshops on cutting-edge topics
- Open access publication support
- Manuscript and proposal review services
- Virtual and in-person networking and public engagement opportunities
- Essay contests, article awards and calls for white papers to stimulate new research, recognize accomplishments, and address conceptual or methodological challenges
- Professional development opportunities for junior scholars working interdisciplinarily
- A monthly podcast and regular video shorts highlighting the research of community members
- Semester-in-residence fellowships to write books in our new series, Foundations for Interdisciplinarity in the Life Sciences: Concise Monographs.