Science and Society

Catalog description

This course uses topical issues and recent scientific controversies to introduce students to the history of science. It will be organized around modules. Examples: the first module will take recent manifestations of eugenic thinking to introduce students to the history of the eugenics movement; 2) This module will use the torture scandal to introduce students to the history of bio- and medical ethics; 3) the US’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord will be the point of departure for a module on environmental history. Practitioners in a range of disciplines (environmental science, psychology, medicine, philosophy) will deliver guest lectures.