General provisions

The Department of History of Science and Ideas is responsible for the course.

Entry requirements

For admittance to the course one is required to be accepted to the Master of Humanities programme or to have a corresponding competence.

Learning outcomes

The students will

- acquire a critical awareness of the role of the human body in scientific knowledge production, now and then

- obtain skills in judging the basic historical practices and discourses that led to the deep-seated image of science as the epitome of disembodied knowledge

- be able to analyse the scientific and industrial revolution taking into consideration the mind-body dichotomy

- be able to judge the actual process of globalisation of knowledge – its potentials and problems - from the body perspective

Content

Science is widely celebrated as the epitome of disembodied knowledge. It is universal, abstract and, above all, disconnected from the burdens of the flesh. It is the ultimate triumph of mind over matter. Over the lasts decades historians and sociologists of science have dispelled that notion of science as simply being the pure product of a realm of ideas. More and more they have paid attention to the mundane work involved in creating new ideas and the effort involved in establishing truths. Scientific ideas are now widely recognised as emerging from a set of practices deeply embedded in material culture. Hence even scientists' bodies matter a great deal. It is by now clear that the identity and trustworthiness of scientists are inextricably implicated in the credibility of the facts about the world that they produce. From this perspective, therefore, the knowing body matters quite importantly for science. In this course we will investigate the changing meanings of this relationship between the body of the investigator of nature and the respective knowledge he or she produced.

Instruction

The course will consist of lectures and seminars held by students as well as the teacher. Students are expected to write essays on selected topics of the teachers as well as their own choice. Participants will write a course newsletter.

Assessment

The course will consist of lectures and seminars held by students as well as the teacher. Students are expected to write essays on selected topics of the teachers as well as their own choice. Participants will write a course newsletter.