Sense and Sensibility and Science

4 credits · Undergraduate

Every day we make decisions that can and should be informed by science. We make decisions as individuals, as voters, and as members of our various communities. The problem is, we don’t do it so well—a fact sadly apparent in political debates. This course aims to equip students with basic tools to be better thinkers. We will explore key aspects of scientific thinking that everyone should know, especially the many ways that we humans tend to fool ourselves, and how to avoid them—including how to differentiate signal from noise, evaluate causal claims, and avoid reasoning biases. We’ll then look at the best models for using science to guide decisions, combining both evidence and values, with the ultimate goal of bettering the world.