Critical & Cultural Perspectives on Science

MSc in Science Communication

module co-ordinator: Dr H Sheehan

spring 1998 lecture timetable

date                                              lecture                                    lecturer  

10 february                               overview                                 Dr H Sheehan

                                                 life story

17 february     science & religion: compatible or contradictory ?                            HS

                a debate on the relationship between science & religion
                questions of criteria

24 february     alternative epistemologies & philosophies of science                    HS

the trajectory from positivism to neo-positivism to post-positivism
                                              philosophy of science timeline

3 march    relativity & rationality: escalating epistemological crises   in science

                                                                                                                                              HS
                the forces ranged against science & the case for the defense

                epistemological criteria

      science / pseudoscience/ antiscience: where to draw the line ?

 10 march    an eco-feminist critique of science                                  Dr M Gibbon

            a critique of the enlightenment & the western and masculine values underlying it 
 


25 march     the rise of the repressed in the history of knowledge                       HS
    alternative approaches to science & gender / class / race / nation

1 april       marxism as epistemology & philosophy of science                           HS
 

                a case study of the convergences / collisions
                        of science / philosophy / politics
                (including the "Lysenko affair")

         marxism & the philosophy of science: a critical history

           Lysenko         Bernal        Caudwell

     with multimedia presentation        (postponed from 3 march)

  8 april    "science wars"                                                                                            HS

who are the combatants and why the combat ?
            (including the Sokal-SocialText skirmish)

a class debate in radio format (info on debate & photos in radio studio)
broadcast on DWR-FM 102.2 at 11am on 18 and 25 April 1998 (in 2 parts)

science wars   social text on the web   Alan Sokal articles on the "social text" affair

course diaries for first 9 weeks due on 21 april

14 april  science in literature                                                                     Dr M Cronin

an overview of literary representations of science & scientists through the ages

21 april  "Dr Frankenstein, I presume"                                                                    MC

the myth of the monstrous in images of science

28 april    Einstein's dreams                                                                                        MC

problems of narrative in literary fictions about science & scientists

LINKS:

critical & cultural perspectives on science
index page     aims & agenda page
reading list    video references
home pages of lecturers:     Dr M Cronin     Dr H Sheehan

school of communications at dcu

science technology & science
world views
e-mail: helena.sheehan@dcu.ie