Improving scientific mentoring with history and philosophy of science

Abstract – Mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral researchers shapes the development of future scientists and, by extension, the progress of science itself. Here we explain how scientific mentoring can be enhanced by incorporating history and philosophy of science (HPS). HPS can provide mentees with a vocabulary for interpreting scientific practice and help to foster creative and innovative biologists through attention to how and why science works. It can also encourage more conscious reflection among mentors on existing biological practices and spur the undertaking of new ones that ultimately contribute to the conceptual rigor and theoretical significance of life science inquiry. We provide concrete advice for experimenting with different strategies of incorporating HPS that range from slight modifications of widely used practices to more nonconventional ideas.