APSC 453 - Science and Authority

Credits: (3)
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. (The course is designed for juniors/seniors STEM majors.)
College Curriculum: COLL 400
Science & Authority considers modern science as source for cultural authority, for better and for worse. Science is a powerful public commodity, but are its presuppositions self-evident? What makes science a legitimate cultural authority? How is the methodology of natural science extended in the human sciences? We will examine misuses of scientific authority and science gone/going wrong, both historical (e.g., tobacco, eugenics, scientific racism) and contemporary (e.g., propaganda, surveillance, fraud, dead-end science). We will evaluate postmodern critiques of science and courageously engage controversial science and society issues, such as science denial, religion-denying scientism, and the tendency of scientific discourse and “objectivity” to justify dominant cultures and preserve the status quo.