week
2 LIFE STORY
LIFE STORY: a BBC Horizon special on
the discovery of the structure of DNA will be screened. It dramatises
in a most effective way a number of issues relevant to this course:
the nature of scientific method (particulary the tension between
induction & deduction, experiment & hypothesis), gender &
science, nationality & science, co-operative v competitive
approaches to science, problems of narratisation / dramatisation
of science. This will be followed by a discussion of the issues involved.
week 3 sociology of knowledge / sociology of science & technolgy (lecture)
week 4 a case study in sociology of science
(lecture)
read Who was Lysenko
? What was Lysenkoism ?
week 5 science & capitalism (lecture)
weeks 6 to 12 class presentations and debates: some possible topics:
issues in contemporary biology & biotechnology
(1): nature v nurture,
hereditarianism v environmentalism, biological deteminism v social constructivism
(2): medicalisation &
the life cycle: how far to go ?
(3): genetic engineering:
how far to go ? who makes the rules ?
issues in contemporary physics: misinterpretation,
mysticism, mayhem
science v new age notions of
science
science, pseudo-science & anti-science: how to tell the difference ? epistemological battles of our times
science & documentary, science & drama, science & journalism: problems & possibilities
industry & ecology: pulling in opposite directions ?
science & technology in irish history
science, technology & the developing world
cosmopolitian science & indigenous knowledge
science & gender: feminist critique of science: rejection or reconstruction ?
science & religion: compatible or contradictory ?
culture & technology
guidelines for course diaries
photo of class
link to old STS website
E-mail: helena.sheehan@dcu.ie