Revolutions in Science: Plato to NATO

HPSC-X 102 — S&H

An introduction to the formative steps in the scientific tradition as well as philosophical investigations of the nature of science.

The Science of Sex and Race: Theories of Biological Differentiation, 1775 to the Present

HPSC-X 108 — S&H

Science and Culture

HPSC-X 104 — A&H

An introduction to the study of science as a human activity that both contributes to cultural change and responds to it. A thematic, rather than a chronological survey, the course presents and compares recent and historical issues and events, and brings out some of the complex relations between science (also medicine and technology) and the arts, literature, commerce, religion, philosophy, sports, food, and changing conceptions of gender, race, health, the human body, the human mind, and the order of nature.

Issues in Biological and Medical Ethics

HPSC-X 111 — A&H

The course will discuss ethical and philosophical issues that arise in biomedicine especially now with the rise of AI technologies. After introducing AI to the students, we will learn about its integration in the medical profession, and about the challenges and benefits it may give rise to. 

Critical Medical Humanities

HPSC-X 125 — S&H

Critical medical humanities offer an interdisciplinary and interprofessional approach to research the psychological and social effects of illness and treatments. The recent prominence of medical humanities in the academia aims at cultivating “medical citizens” in shaping the future medical culture as a democracy, where deep understanding of the less technical or measurable facets of medicine support fairness, individual and social justice, and a clinical rather than a business or sheer scientific framework.

Scientific Reasoning

HPSC-X 200 — N&M

Introduction to Medical History

HPSC-X 205 — S&H

This class covers the history of Western medicine from Hippocrates in Ancient Greece to the present. As we are seeing in our own time, medical history shaped human history, often in dramatic ways. We will study changing concepts of disease; past epidemics, including the Black Death, which killed about a third of Europe’s population; efforts to understand human anatomy and physiology; the history of vaccination and the germ theory of disease; the role of medical images in anatomy and pathology. There are no pre-requisites to take this class.

Science and Values

HPSC-X411

This course explores epistemic, pragmatic, and social values and their roles in scientific practice and theory. Topics will range across historical and philosophical assessments of scientific explanation to the explicit and implicit roles values play in actual scientific research. 

HPSC-X 340: Scientific Methods: How Science Really Works

HPSC-X 340 — S&H

Scientific knowledge is often taken to be reliable because it arises from using “the scientific method”. But it is by no means easy to explain what “the scientific method” is and what the distinct rules and procedures are that make inquiry scientific. 

Boom! Who's Afraid of Nuclear Power and Radiation

HPSC-X 206 — S&H

History of Science Since 1750

HPSC-X407

This course provides an advanced introduction to and survey of the history of Western science since 1750. Emphasizing recent secondary literature on canonical episodes, the course will consider the physical, biological, and earth sciences, science in international comparison and in social, political, intellectual, and institutional context, as well as the history of technology and medicine. There are no prerequisites, but some knowledge of modern science or modern European or American history will be helpful.