ENVS 5110
Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Studies
Initiating Schedule
Week #1 (Tue., Aug. 46, 2010) Introduction
- Syllabus and survey. Videos: “The Day After Trinity” (1980) and/or “Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring” (1992)
Why these videos? Because STS issues entered the post-World II public agenda via nuclear weapons and environmental pollution. These videos provide background.
Week #2 (Tue., Aug. 31, 2010) Two Beginnings
- Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), selections.
- Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962), selections.
- Overview histories of STS relations and STS studies.
Week #3 (Tue., Sept. 7, 2010) Classic STS
- Jacob Bronowski, Science and Human Values (1956).
- C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959).
- Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society (1964), selections.
- E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful (1973), selections.
- Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (1971), selections; and Tools for Conviviality (1973), introduction, selections.
Week #4 (Tue., Sept. 14, 2010) [Guest professor Jen Schneider]
- Langdon Winner and nuclear power
Week #5 (Tue., Sept. 21, 2010) Pro-science STS
- E.O. Wilson, Consilience (1998), chapters 1-12
Week #6 (Tue., Sept. 28, 2010) Pro-science and Pre-STS
- Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization (1934), selections; and “Technics and the Nature of Man” (1966)
- Robert Merton, “Science and the Social Order” (1938) and “The Normative Structure of Science” (1942)
Week #7 (Tue., Oct. 5, 2010) Pre-STS
- John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (1927), selections.
- John Dewey, Freedom and Culture (1939), selections.
Week #8 (Tue., Oct. 12, 2010) Guest professor Jen Schneider
- Engineering, development, and community
Week #9 (Tue., Oct. 19, 2010) TBA
Week #10 (Tue., Oct. 26, 2010) TBA
Week #11 (Tue., Nov. 2, 2010) TBA
Week #12 (Tue., Nov. 12, 2010) TBA
Week #13 (Tue., Nov. 16, 2010) Guest professor Jen Schneider
- Kate Soper and alternative hedonism
FALL/THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week #14 (Tue., Nov. 30, 2010) TBA
Week #15 (Tue., Dec. 7, 2010) TBA
FINAL EXAM
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