FASS Course: PHIL 450/550 Science and Society

PHIL 450/550 SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

CRN:  21259 & 21260

Course Schedule:  Thu 10:40-13:30

Instructors: Gürol Irzık and Faik Kurtulmuş

Knowledge, and especially scientific knowledge, is essential for human flourishing, democratic rule and just legislation. Thus, the well-functioning of the institutions that have a crucial role in the production and dissemination of knowledge, and in ensuring that people have the capability to assimilate what is disseminated by providing them with the necessary educational background and intellectual skills is very important. This course aims to study these institutions from both a philosophical and social-scientific perspective and explore the two-way interaction between science and society.

The topics covered include

• justice in the distribution of knowledge,
• the economic factors that bear on the production of knowledge,
• the role of values and incentives in ensuring the reliability of scientific research,
• the role of the media in informing the public,
• the nature and determinants of trust in scientists,
• the values that should inform education.