NATURAL SCIENCE 120

Winter term, 2008

 

Office & Communication: CC 273, phone: 563-1252. E-mail: scott_stewart@cbu.ca

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30; Wednesdays, 10-noon ; by appointment, or drop by.

Readings: See outline below

Assignments: Each term's grade will count for 50% of your final grade. The grade for the winter term will be calculated as follows. There will be three assignments in the winter term all of which will count equally for your term grade:

1'st assignment:                (Thursday, Jan. 31) 

2'nd assignment:             (Thursday, March 6) "TEST 2 STUDY QUESTIONS"

OR

RESEARCH ESSAY  (Thursday, March 6)

Final Exam:      April 15, 2-4, CE 325  FINAL EXAM STUDY QUESTIONS

 

The test and exams will typically consist of some combination of "objective" questions (fill in the blanks, etc.), short essays (of a paragraph or two) and long essays (between 4 & 5 pages). To help you prepare for the long essay on tests and the exam, I'll provide you with study questions in advance.

 As you may have noticed, there is no grade for 'class participation' (nor is class attendance required in this course). You ought not infer from this either that such participation is unimportant, or that you will have little or no opportunity to participate -- either by comments or questions -- during class time. Indeed, past experience has shown: (1) you will enjoy the course much more if you come to class regularly and participate while there, and (2) your grade will be higher if you do so.

 

Tentative Course Outline: Winter Term

1                      Science,  Race, Sex, and Behaviour

 Readings:              "The Case of Phillipe Ruston"

Sapolsky,   "Genetic Hyping"

Thornhill & Palmer,  "Why Men Rape"

Murray & Hernstein, The Bell Curve (excerpts)

National Institutes of Health,  "The Bell Curve: A Statement"

Ventner,   "We are all virtually identical Twins"

Skinner, "Behaviorism and freedom" (Scroll down set of readings to the one by Skinner)

   2                    Science and Patriarchy

 Readings:               Ruth Hubbard,  "Science, Facts, and Feminism"

Virginia Held, "Feminism and Epistemology"

 

                     Research Ethics: The Misuse of Humans in Scientific Experimentation

 Readings:                 Gregory Pence, “The Tuskegee Study”

                                     Tri-council Policy Statement, “Ethical conduct for research involving humans

                               

               Research Ethics: The Use and/or Abuse of Non-human Animals in Research

 Readings:                 Peter Singer, “The Morality of Experimenting with Animals

                                Richard Smith, “Animal Research: The Need for a Middle Ground”

 

        Reconstructing Humans: Science, Depression, and Happiness

 Readings:              

Kramer,  "Makeover"   from Listening to Prozac

Elliott,  "The Tyranny of Happiness"

Stewart, "Hacking the Blues..."

 

                Reconstructing Humans: Surgical Beauty

Readings:               Little,  "Cosmetic Surgery, Suspect Norms..."

Figueroa, "Self Esteem and Cosmetic Surgery"

 

               Reconstructing Humans: Eugenics, Gene Therapy, Cloning, and Stem Cell Research

Readings:               Jonathan Glover, “Eugenics: Some Lessons From the Nazi Experience”

                                Jonathan Glover, “Questions about some uses of genetic engineering”

                                Brock,   "Cloning Human Beings..."

Soren Holm, “Going to the Roots of the Stem Cell Controversy”

 

9: Virtual Reality

Readings:  Readings on Virtual Reality 

 Click on above and then click on the section, "What does it mean

to be virtually real?"

 

10: Alternative medicine

Reading: R.S. Stewart & B. Legatto: "Modern Mesmerism or Post- Modern Science: The Case of Therapeutic Touch"

 

NATURAL SCIENCE 120:11

Dr. R. SCOTT STEWART

FALL TERM, 2006

 

Office& Communication: CC 273, phone: 563-1252. E-mail: scott_stewart@capebretonu.ca

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:30; Wednesdays, 9-noon, by appointment, or drop by.

Readings: All readings for the first term will be accessible only through this web page. Simply click on the appropriate links belows under "Tentative Course Outline." . Readings for the second term will be contained in a course pack available (later in the fall) at the CBU Bookstore.

Assignments: Each term’s grade will count for 50% of your final grade. Each assignment in the fall term will be of equal value. T

Test 1:  Oct.5  TEST 1 STUDY QUESTIONS

Test 2: , November 2 TEST 2 STUDY QUESTIONS

Christmas exam: Christmas Exam Study Questions

All tests will be of the essay variety, some short (less than one page) and some long (between 4 and 5 pages). I expect you to be able, particularly by the end of the course, to write clearly and articulately. To help in this process, study questions for the long essays will be provided in advance. I’ll discuss this in more detail in class.

As you may have noticed, there is no grade for 'class participation' (nor is class attendance required in this course). You ought not infer from this either that such participation is unimportant, or that you will have little or no opportunity to participate -- either by comments or questions -- during class time. Indeed, past experience has shown: (1) you will enjoy the course much more if you come to class regularly and participate while there, and (2) your grade will be higher if you do so.

 

PLEASE NOTE:

(1) For many, this can be a conceptually difficult course. If I have covered something in class, or in your reading, that you do not understand, ask a question in class and/or come to see me: do not let things slide by.

(2) "Make up" tests will be given only under special circumstances and with my prior knowledge. If you must miss a test, for a legitimate reason, at the very least, you must leave a voice or e-mail message with me prior to the test and be prepared to provide written documentation (e.g., a doctor’s note) before writing a make-up assignment.

(3) Writing skills are an important part of any course in University; this is especially so for a course in the Humanities. Therefore, the grades for your examinations and for your assignments will take account both of the ideas you present and the manner in which you present your ideas, i.e., you will be graded on both your content and your style. Unfortunately, some of you suffer from reading and writing problems. There are services on campus to help you overcome this, specifically, the Reading and Writing Development Centre (indicated on tests as RWDC). Make use of these services.

(4) There will be NO supplementary examination(s) in this course.

(5) Please make yourself aware of CBU's policies regarding various forms of academic dishonestly by reading the relevant sections of the 2006/07 CBU calendar, pp. 2225-226.

 

Course Description

This course aims at introducing the Arts student to the world of science. The rationale for doing this is that science forms an integral part of today's world: not to understand science -- what it is and the way in which it works -- is thus to be unaware of one of the most important influences on your life. Hence, we shall investigate the nature of science beginning with its history. From there, we will discuss the methodology employed in science, the way in which science progresses, the sorts of logical reasoning involved in science, and the status of scientific claims. The second term will focus on value issues which arise in the scientific domain; e.g., the status of experimentation of animals, human and otherwise, the ethics of genetic engineering, the environmental impact of science and technology, and so on.

 

 

Tentative Course Outline: Fall Term

(1) Early Greek Science

Mythological explanations vs. Scientific explanations; Ancient Greek

science; Greek atomism; Aristotelianism and teleology in nature.

Readings: Stewart, Course notes on Ancient Greek Thought.

                           Plato, Selection from Republic    

                          Aristotle, Physics, Bk. II

 

(2) Early History of Astronomy

Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Copernicus. The Scientific Revolution:

Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton; The clash between science and

religion; the scientist’s obligation to society; scientific methodology.

Readings: Stewart, Course Notes on Astronomy;

                                              Galileo, "Letter,"

                                                ‘The Galileo Affair’

 

(3) Scientific Methodology & scientific revolutions

The hypothetico-deductive method; deductive vs. inductive inference;

falsifiability; revolutions in science; scientific paradigms; normal science.

Readings:   Hempel, 'The Case of Dr. Semmelweis

                    Stewart, Course Notes on Logic

                    T. Kuhn,  ‘Normal and Revolutionary Science

 

            (4) Darwin and the meaning of life

    Readings: The Theory of Natural Selection (all readings below are linked here)

                    'Lamarck and the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics'

                    'The Blind Watch maker'

                    "There's No Need to Choose Between Evolution and Creation"

 

        (5) Are we Free

Readings 

"The Science of Sociobiology" (this and the next two readings are on this link)

“Biological Determinism: Two Views”

“Behaviorism and Freedom”