:HIST/HUM/PHYS 361:
Science and Culture
What is this course about anyways?
Einstein: "Education is what remains
after one has forgotten everything he
learned in school."
Thematic divisions
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In the first segment we focus on the development /
emergence of science and scientific inquiry into nature
as a discipline distinct from religion and theology.
In the second segment the focus is on the development
of physical models of nature and how instruments [e.g.,
the telescope] facilitate the practice of scientific inquiry
In the third segment attention turns to relationship
between humans, science, and the environment. Applied
Science (industrialization, engineering, technology)
emerges.
In scientific inquiry skepticism is pervasive: ‘reality
and clarity are complementary’ Niels Bohr [jn]
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That is, one cannot have both at the same time.
Nonetheless, in the popular imagination we want to
believe that we can have both clarity and reality. Why?
To have both provides a kind of security? Something
humans crave?
That is, cultural expectations / aspirations / hopes often
get in the way of determining reality = Bias.
So too is the determination of ‘reality’ handicapped by
incomplete data, instrument failure, etc.
Questions I [jn]
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Both science and religion deal with ‘nature’. What is the difference?
How does culture affect / encourage / discourage scientific
discovery?
How does scientific discovery / knowledge affect culture? How are
these connected? and what are the limitations to this kind of
feedback?
Do humans use science to justify political, social, cultural policies?
How does society cope with scientific ideas that appear to be
counter-intuitive?
Is there a difference between science and technology? And should
society promote one over the other?
Questions II [gb and gb]
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Why should society support science?
What is the economic price of knowledge acquisition?
Esp. when there is no immediate commercial value? If
the price is too high, what then?
How does science // engineering affect cultural change?
Can that change be measured and explained?
What is the “Truth” and who is its gatekeeper?
What happens when scientific “Truth” [and/or scientific
consensus about what is true] is unacceptable to the
masses?
Questions III [jn]
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What is the connection between Science and Religion? What do they
have in common?
Is science a system of belief?
Is religion a science?
Consider these words: "Science without religion is lame. Religion
without science is blind.”
What does it mean when we claim to find order in nature? Does
order suggest a “Orderer”?
Is nature really ordered or are we forcing it to appear that way so
that we can explain it ?
Are humans part of nature? Or different in some fundamental way
different from other species?
Sub Texts [gb]
Issues that will permeate the course…
Cooperation versus Competition as the
means to achieve the ‘more perfect’ and / or
ideal state/government
Why do we so easily treat nature as a
consumable? Nature would seem to have
no spiritual value but is just a machine.
Are humans really separate and distinct
from nature?
More Sub Texts [jn&gb]
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Why do we require certainty in order to make decisions?
Can we trust our senses? How can we ‘be sure’?
How do reason and experience interact? Is rationalism
superior to empiricism? Of the latter to the former?
Has anything really changed for 10,000 years in terms of
human behavior and human/institutional structures?
Has science ever impacted the way in which society
functions?
What does it mean to be ‘enlightened’?
Max Planck
“We have no right to assume that
any physical laws exist, or if they
have existed up to now, that they
will continue to exist in a similar
manner in the future.”
Whatever can he mean?