INTRODUCTION, GETTING ACQUAINTED, & OVERVIEW OF COURSE

 A look at some current socially-significant developments in basic and applied sciences

-What's hot and what's not-

 For some samples of topics touched on in the course, see the following Web sites:

Bioethics Discussion Pages:

http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~mbernste/

What’s deforming the frogs?  http://www.pca.state.mn.us/hot/frogs.html

That Science Guy:

http://nyelabs.kcts.org/flash_go.html

Some bad science:

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/BadScience.html

Science and Spirituality:

www.science-spirit.org/

ULV online access: PROQUEST

ULV WEB siteàLibrariesà

THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY How do scientists learn about Nature?

-Discovery Process in Science-

Lecture, Discussion

Some WEB exercises

Lecture, discussion

Library assignment given

Sept 12

NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY, CONT

POPULAR IMAGES OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Popular images of science &

technology in press, film, & literature

Modern epidemic: The AIDS crisis Pp 101-112 (A&B) (See Exer. 3.4, 3.5)

Film (in class): And the band played on (AIDS & public health research policy)

Film (assigned): A beautiful mind

The nature and logic of science 14-22; 33-66; 80-85 (A&B) (See ex. 2.1-2.8)

Is it science or is it technology? 150-151

 Sept 19

Library assignment due

 EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT

How do scientific explanations change over time?

 -Paradigms and Paradigm Shifts-

 Lecture

The concept of paradigm 66-74. The nature and logic of science (cont): Testing hypo-

 theses 87-101 (Ex.3.1-3.3)

Doing biology: Case studies 115-138 (A&B)

(Optional reading: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn)

Sept 26

THE RISE OF SCIENCE AND THE OBJECTIFICATION OF NATURE

How did the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions influence our perceptions of

Nature and human nature?

-Aristotelian Cosmology, Newtonian Mechanics, Cartesian Reductionism-

Preface;  ch 1 Turning of the tide; ch 2 New world machine; ch 4 Mechanistic view of life (C)

The Mechanism-Vitalism debate 74-80 (A&B)

Oct 3

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SCIENCE AND OUR SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS OF NATURE

How have 20th Century science and technology influenced our perceptions of

Nature and Human nature?

-Einsteinian Relativity, Heisenbergian Uncertainty, Big-Bang-Cosmology, Ecosystem-Thinking, Indigenous Wisdom-

Film: Mindwalk

ch 5 The biomedical model (C)

ch 3 The new physics (C)

Oct 10

THE SCIENCE OF ECOLOGY

"It’s all about relationships."

-Some fundamental environmental processes-

(Begin Yard-Field Exercise (Instructions provided)

Recommend 1^st half of Spurgeon book

Lecture, WEB sites, &/or library references

Review for 1^st exam

Oct 17

EXAM 1

Oct 24

THE SCIENCE OF ECOLOGY, cont.

Is ecology a subversive science?

 USE & MISUSE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY I

Reshaping the planet: Getting Air, Water, Food, Shelter, Energy, Health Care, Entertainment..

Recommend 2^nd half of Spurgeon book

ch 8 The dark side of growth (C)

ch 10 Wholeness and health (C)

Oct 31

USE & MISUSE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY II

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Global climate changes, etc…

Choosing sustainable technology: high, intermediate, low, locally appropriate, soft, hard, centralized, decentralized…

ch 12 Passage to the Solar Age (C)

Social responsibilities of scientists 158-164

Nov 7

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

Can we have a sustainable relationship with Earth?

What lessons is Earth teaching us?

How can knowledge of ecology help us?

What can Earth’s traditional people teach us?

SCIENCE AND CULTURAL VALUES

Subtle bias

Lecture, discussion

Native Americans & Nature (some personal reflections)

Darwin & the political economists; W.B. Cannon & The New Deal 147-158 (A&B)

Nov 14

Science & Society Note-books due

SCIENCE AND CULTURAL VALUES, cont.

Science, medicine, and "the woman question"

Biology and race: Eugenics, biomedical research ethics

Ch 1 & 2, "The romantic solution" & "Sexual politics of sickness"in For her own good…, Erenreich & English

Genetics and eugenics… 158-162 (A&B)

Also see "Eugenics" Web sites

Tuskegee syphilis study 164-168

Also see Web sites, such as: www.dreamscape.com/morgan/adrastea  and www.scils.rutgers.edu/~lyonsm/biomed

 handouts

Nov 21

Yard/

Field Exercise due

SCIENCE & RELIGION: HISTORIC ADVERSARIES 

Beliefs traditionally dividing science & religion?     

Mother Earth: Multiply and Subdue or

Respect & Sustain

Organic Evolution, Divine Intervention, Continuing Creation

Creation stories: Native American, Classical Greek, Judeo-Christian, Modern Cosmology

Natural selection paradigm 66-69; Some ideas in the history of biology 1-14 (A&B)

Science & pseudoscience; Science & religion 168-184; A paleontological puzzle: fate of the dinosaurs 138-147(A&B)

Film (optional, outside class):  Inherit the Wind

Handouts, Web sites, Discussions

Nov 28

THANKSGIVING

Dec 5

MODERN BIOLOGY: NEW KNOWLEDGE NEW DILEMMAS

Making choices in a biotechnological age

Discussion, handouts, lecture

Dec 12

EXAM 2