The Vocation of a Scientist

Undergraduate / Graduate

Max Weber wrote that to be a scientist one needed a "strange intoxication" with scientific work and a "passionate devotion" to research as a calling. And yet, such passion seemed to conflict with the ideal of value-neutral inquiry. This class considers the vocation of science since the turn of the twentieth century. What political, economic, and cultural forces have shaped scientific professions in the United States? How are scientists represented in public culture? How was American science experienced during the colonization of the Philippines? By exploring these questions, this class will examine the values and norms that make science into a meaningful vocation.