Science and the Ideal Society

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The term "science" describes a process of inquiry developed over milennia of human history. Scientific discoveries, from chemical fertilizer and astronomical patterns to computers and the atom bomb, have had a well known impact on the course of human history. But the same is true in the other direction: changes to human societies and how they are organized influence what questions scientists ask and what tools they have available to answer them. What are ideal organizations of scientific inquiry and what, if anything, does it have to do with ideal organizations of society in general? Should we reorganize our lives around what science has discovered already - or what kinds of discoveries we hope it can make? What kinds of scientific investigations are ethically permissible, and what does that question have to do with the ethical and political relationships researchers find themselves in? This course will survey a variety of philosophical perspectives on these questions, while also surveying a variety of eras of scientific production from ancient societies to the present day.