76-101: Interpretation and Argument, Fall 2005, Section AA
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Science and Technology, Society and Culture: Course Resources Home Page
- Syllabus (The syllabus includes the complete course description,
list of texts, assignment due dates/daily schedule, and more).
- Assignments
- Summary Assignment
- Synthesis-Analysis Assignment
- Contribution Assignment
- Writing Samples: A summary by me, advice, and student samples (anon.)
- Writing and Reading Resources
- Readings, roughly in order of class coverage (updated regularly:
see syllabus for full bibliographic citation)
- Zoline,
"The Heat Death of the Universe"
- Aronowitz, "Science and Technology
as Hegemony"
- Hubble, "The Nature of Science"
- *Barnes, "The Problem of Knowledge"
- *Bloor, "The Strong Programme in the Sociology
of Knowledge"
- Lewontin, "A Reasonable Skepticism"
(If you would like to read more about "genetic determinism," one of the
concepts Lewontin alludes to in this essay, scroll down to "Additional Reading
Material" and see 'Essays About "Genetic Determinsm"').
- Namenwirth, "Science Seen Through a
Feminist Prism"
- Gross and Levitt, "Does It Matter?"
- *Nanda, Meera, Against social de(con)struction
of science: cautionary tales from the third world Vol. 48, Monthly Review,
03-01-1997, pp 1(20). (A socialist critic warns of the pernicious effects
of "social constructivism" in science studies on the Third World).
- Levine, "What Is Science Studies For and
Who Cares?"
* Not Required.
- The Sciences, Literature and the Arts Segment: I have decided to
link to these online versions of Peacock's, Shelley's, Huxley's and Arnold's
essays in the interests of conveniencce and increased access. We will discuss
citation of these text in class, for those who will want to cite them in
their upcoming papers.
- Thomas
Peacock, "The Four Ages of Poetry"
- Percy
Shelley, "A Defence of Poetry": This is a very good online version,
a new encoded transcription from the photographic facsimile in The Bodleian
Shelley Manuscripts: A Facsimile Edition, XX, ed. Michael O'Neill (New
York and London: Garland, 1994): 20-83; PR 5401 1986 v20 Robarts Library.
The source of the facsimile is Bodleian Library Ms. Shelley e.6., Editor:
Ian Lancashire, Rep. Criticism On-line (1996).
- Thomas Huxley, "Science
and Culture" (1880).
- Matthew Arnold, "Literature
and Science" (1882).
- C.P. Snow, The
Two Cultures (first printed 1959)
- E.O. Wilson, "The Arts
and Their Interpretation," from Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge:
210-37.
- George Levine, "One
Culture: Science and Literature," from One Culture: Essays
in Science and Literature: 3-32.
- *John Brockman, "The
Emerging Third Culture" (1995).
- Science and Religion Segment (more to follow)
- Additional items of interest:
- Sociology
of Knowledge
- Biodeterminsm
- Essays About "Genetic Determinism":
- "Dishonesty
in Science," Richard Lewontin
- The
Third Culture,
John Brokman, ed. (The collection)
- The "Sokal Affair":
Links to texts related to the once-heated "Sokal hoax." The "Sokal Affair"
began with an article by physicist Alan Sokal, published in Social Text,
a rather elite academic journal of cultural analysis, edited by Stanley
Aronowitz and Andrew Ross. The essay, later revealed as a parody of "social
constructivist" science criticism, set off what have become known as the
"science wars." You might want to begin with the first Sokal essay (the
hoax) and continue from there.
- The hoax, published in Social Text: "Transgressing
the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity",
by Alan Sokal
- Revelation of the hoax in Lingua Franca: "A
Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies," by Alan Sokal
- Social Text's editorial response to Sokal's Lingua Franca
article: This
Site was down the last time I tried it.