Title

STS 210: Ethics, Science, and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2006

Abstract

Innovations in contemporary science and technology and attempts to implement them in Western societies are raising profound ethical issues that defy easy resolution. These issues challenge the applicability of traditional Western ethical thought and call into question our ability to devise realistic public policies that both promote societal well being and are consonant with perennial Western ethical values and principles. In this class we will subject a number of ethical controversies spawned by recent or emerging technical advances to vigorous critical analysis. Controversies examined will involve issues of privacy, intellectual property, and equity of access in relation to developments in computers, information technology, and biotechnology; issues of individual liberty and public interest in relation to advances in human reproduction and life extension; issues of social responsibility, loyalty, and integrity in relation to the work of scientists and engineers; and issues of traditional individual rights, such as property, mobility, and freedom of inquiry and artistic expression, in relation to construction, transport, and other technologies that transform human environments in controversial ways. We will read scholarly essays, policy proposals, and articles from magazines and newspapers on a number of such issues and, through probing discussion and rigorous debate, subject them to critical analysis. In so doing, students will acquire heightened awareness, hone portable skills, and ways of thinking that will enable them to come effectively to grips with unexpected issues of this type, ones that are sure to confront professionals and ordinary citizens with increasing frequency in the future.

Topic

Social Dimensions of Ethical Behavior

Material Type

Syllabus

Research Area

Engineering | Life Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Social and Behavioral Sciences

 
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