• Historical antecedents in which social

considerations changed the course of science

and technology (wk 1-3)
• Intellectual revolutions that defined society. (wk
4)
• Science and technology and nation building (wk
5-6)

STS AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

• The human person flourishing in terms of
science and technology. (wk 7-8)
• The Good life (wk 9)
• When technology and humanity cross (wk
10)
• Why the future does not need us. (wk 11-
12)
SPECIFIC ISSUES IN STS
• The information age (wk 13)
• Biodiversity and the healthy society (wk
14-15)
• The nano world (wk 16)
• Gene theraphy, Culminating Activity (Wk
“If I have seen further than
others, it is by standing on
the shoulders of giants”

Sir Isaac Newton

 “If I have seen further than others,
it is by standing on the shoulders of
giants”

1. What do you think Newton has

seen?
2. Who do you think Newton refers
to as “giants”?
3. What do you think this quote tells
• Science is as old as the world
itself.
• Science as an idea
• Science as an intellectual activity
• Science as a body of knowledge
• Science as a personal and social
activity.
• Latin “scientia” – Knowledge

• Human have persistently observed

and studied the natural and physical
world in order to find meanings and
seek answers to many questions.
• Is it better to know or not to
know?

• Our identity is based on how

we see the world.

• Should scientists be allowed to

do anything that they can?
• Greek philosopher and the main source of
Western thought.
• His “Socratic Method”, laid the groundwork
for Western systems of logic and
philosophy.
• Socrates always emphasized the
importance of the mind over the relative
unimportance of the human body.
• He claimed to be ignorant because he had
no ideas, but wise because he recognized
• “The more I know, the more I do not know”

• An unexamined life is not worthliving.

• Was a student of Socrates and a teacher
of Aristotle.
• Founded the academy in Athens.
• Idealist
• His work on the use of reason to develop a
more fair and just society that is focused
on the equality of individuals established
the foundation for modern democracy.
• Plato claimed that knowledge gained
through the senses is no more than
opinion and that, in order to have real
knowledge, we must gain it through
philosophical reasoning.
• Know yourself.
• Constant struggle for human in
discovering the reality of the world
while balancing what you know to be
true, and what the physical world is
showing you to be true.
• Focuses on systematic concept of
logic.
• Objective was to come up with a
universal process of reasoning
that would allow man to learn
every conceivable thing about
reality.
• Realist.
• The golden mean: living a moral
life Is the ultimate goal.
• Christian era

• For most medieval scholars, who believed that

God created the universe according to geometric
and harmonic principles, science – particularly
geometry and astronomy – was linked directly to
the divine.

• To seek the principles, therefore would be to

seek God.
• Intellectuals and their contributions to the
development of science.
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Charles Darwin
• Sigmund Freud
•Tools discovered during the ancient,
middle, and modern ages.
• Mathematician and astronomer who
formulated a model of the universe
that placed the sun rather than the
Earth at the center of the universe.
• Polyglot and Polymath
• D𝑒 revolutionibus orbium coelestium
(On the Revolutions of the Celestial
Spheres)
• English naturalist, geologist and
biologist, best known for his
contributions to the science of
evolution.
• All species of organisms arise and
develop through the natural selection
of small, inherited variations that
increase the individual’s ability to
compete, survive, and reproduce.
• Diverse groups of animals evolve
from one or a few common ancestors;

• The mechanism by which this

evolution takes place is natural
selection.
• Austrian neurologist and the founder of
psychoanalysis.

• Development of an observational method.

• Focused on human sexuality and the evil

nature of man.