Twentieth-Century Reconceptions of Knowledge and Science

Significant critiques of classic and prevailing (rationalist, realist, positivist) ideas of scientific truth, method, objectivity, and progress and the development of alternative (constructivist, pragmatist, historicist, sociological) accounts; the dynamics of knowledge; the relation between scientific and other cultural practices. Readings include works by Fleck, Popper, Kuhn, Foucault, Rorty, and Latour. Prerequisite: UC 49 (An Introduction to Science Studies) or college-level work in critical theory, science, or philosophy.