Lecturer and Seminar Leader = Prof. Steve Fuller

Tuesdays, 9-11 am

COURSE OUTLINE

TERM ONE

SEMINAR (AND POSSIBLE EXAM) QUESTIONS RELATED TO EACH WEEK’S TOPICS

1. In what respects has the history of the social sciences been bound up with the project of humanity? [E.g. see Introduction and chap. 2, sections 1-2, of Humanity 2.0]

2. In what respects is ‘Humanity 2.0’ an apt or inapt expression for the challenges currently facing the self-understanding of our species? [E.g. see Introduction of Humanity 2.0]

3. Which do you think has been of more general significance in determining the course of history: (a) changes in the use of psychoactive substances (i.e. food, drinks, drugs), or (b) changes in the construction of the physical environment (i.e. buildings, roads and other infrastructure)? How would you study the difference in workings of these two variables? [E.g. see Smail’s ‘Essay on Neurohistory’ and/or his book, On Deep History and the Brain]

4. How have 'race' and 'religion' provided boundary conditions for what it means to be 'human'? [E.g. see chapter 1 of Humanity 2.0]

5. Is there still some way of holding together the classical conception of humanity enshrined in, say, the UN Declaration of Human Rights in Humanity 2.0 -- whichever way it goes? [E.g. see chap. 2, sections 1-2, of Humanity 2.0]

6. Is a stable society possible if people are allowed a free choice as to how/whether they ‘enhance’ themselves? [E.g. see chap. 3 of Humanity 2.0 and Demos report, Better Humans]

7-8. Which social/political/economic/cultural issues need to be taken into account when deciding whether to license research designed to enhance the human condition? Be sure your answer deals with ‘hard cases’, that is, where arguments can be easily made both to allow and prohibit such research. [E.g. see http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1; the following checklist may be useful:

· At what level should decisions on such experiments be taken – e.g. state, individual, etc.?

· What sort of information would be needed to make such a decision?

· Who should be held responsible for any adverse consequences from these experiments?

· How publicly known should the outcomes of such research be made?]

9. Why might one argue for a citizen-based right or duty to participate in scientific research? Is granting such a right or duty desirable? [E.g. see Chan et al. article on ‘Risky Research and Citizen Participation’]

10. Was the computer the most important science-based innovation of the 20^th century? How do you interpret the fact that so many people seem to think so? What do you take to be the computer’s main rivals for this honour? [E.g. see Economist debate on this topic.

TERM TWO

· Required Book: Patricia Fara, Science: A Four Thousand Year History (Oxford UP)

· For week one, read these two futuristic essays from the 1920s – the first by Jack Haldane (a population geneticist) and the second, a response, by Bertrand Russell:

o http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Daedalus.html

o www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/.../russell2.htm

· For week ten, read the UK Green Party think tank pamphlet, ‘Guardians of the Future’:

o http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/files/greenhouse/home/Guardians_inside_final.pdf

In the second term, the seminar associated with a given lecture will occur at the start of the following week. This will give students a week to think about the seminar question. Thus, each class period will consist of first a seminar and then a lecture. The lecture topics correspond to the main divisions of Fara’s book. However, week 10 will blur the boundaries between the two during the lecture period. After the seminar on Fara VII in the first hour, there will be lecture-cum-seminar in the second hour about ‘Guardians of the Future’.

SEMINAR (AND POSSIBLE EXAM) QUESTIONS RELATED TO EACH WEEK’S TOPICS

1. Both Haldane and Russell are clearly pro-science but which one do you think better captures how science has proceeded since the time they wrote?

2. Can appeals to the ancient Greeks still help to legitimise contemporary science?

3. Is science better described as a form of knowledge that transcends or combines other forms of knowledges?

4. In what respects do experiments go beyond ordinary close observation of phenomena? Is it correct to say that experimentation is the gold standard of scientific validity?

5. Discuss the various ways in which science has been institutionalised in its history. Has this history been marked by ‘progress’ in a sense comparable to ‘progress’ in scientific knowledge itself?

6. NA

7. Are all general principles of science ‘laws’? What is gained and lost by making the search for ‘laws of nature’ as the overarching goal of science?

8. How has it been possible for a belief in an unobservable entity – such as an atom, a germ or a gene – become the basis for an empirical scientific research programme?

9. How do you reconcile the image of science as searching for ‘laws of nature’ with the increasing number of decisions that it seems to force on us?

10. Is it possible to legislate for future generations? Explain your answer.

AUDIO LECTURES

TERM ONE

First Week Lecture: Introduction

Second week lecture: The Problem of Humanity 2.0

Third week Lecture: Biology and Neurohistory

Fourth week Lecture: Race and Religion

Fifth week Lecture: Theological Origins of Humanity 2.0

Sixth week Lecture: Converging Technologies Agenda

Seventh week Discussion: Seven Experiments from Wired Magazine

Ninth week Lecture: Recapitulation of the Class of to this Point: Science as the Mark of Humanity

Tenth week lecture and seminar: What is the most significant innovation of the 20th century: computer, artificial fertiliser -- or nuclear energy?

TERM TWO

Second week lecture: Fara, chap. 1 -- 'science' in the ancient world

Third week lecture: Fara, chap. 2 -- science's multicultural interactions (plays on QuickTime) You may find it easier to play it from the website:

Fourth week lecture: Fara chap. 3 -- the multiple senses of experimentation in science

Fifth week lecture: Fara chap. 4 -- the institutions of science (17-19th centuries)

Seventh week lecture: Fara chap. 5 -- the progress of science (19th-20th centuries)

Eighth week lecture: Fara chap. 6 -- the role of invisibles in science (19th-20th centuries)

Ninth week lecture: Fara chap. 7 -- Big Science in 20th and 21st century

Tenth week lecture: Legislating for the future -- precautionary v. proactionary principles