With extensive use of controversial case studies, we will help students develop a critical appreciation of the process of scientific discovery and its implications.
1. The meaning, use and diversity of the scientific method
- Science is both imaginative and highly disciplined
- Science is a very successful way to gain knowledge
- Science is a human endeavor and so is often flawed, yet it can in the long run draw powerful context- and culture-independent conclusions
- Why it works: organized skepticism.
- What conflicting evidence means and how we can sort it out (not all data are equal)
- Why absolute proof is rare in science
- What is meant by certainty in science – and how scientists convey it, and why it usually can’t be conjured up over night
- What science can and cannot deliver (knowledge and ethics)
- Why it is hard to aim science at a target
2. The difference between good science, bad science, pseudoscience and everything else; evidence versus conviction; skeptics versus deniers
3. The societal implications of thinking scientifically
- The impact of science on humanity’s view of humanity
- The enormous impact science will continue to have
- The contemporary utility of science for everyday life, for business and for governance
- Science is a civilizing enterprise that generates wonder and awe.
Related themes that bubble up along the way
- Humans have lousy intuition
- The more science reveals about the natural world, the more we realize just how little we know
- Why the public gets confused about science and why scientists get confused about the public
Skills developed
- Ability to recognise types of data that are more or less compelling (anecdote vs double-blind placebo trial; correlation vs causation)
- Ability to distinguish more and less reliable sources of information
- Ability to critically appraise science in the media
- Ability to think probabilistically: risk, likelihood, error rates, degree of certainty
Last updated Aug 27, 2015