COURSE NUMBER: GEN_LA 298
MEETING TIME AND LOCATION
Tuesday 4-6PM, Annenberg Hall G29
INSTRUCTORS
Jiayi Lu: jlu@u.northwestern.edu
John Hruska: jsh@u.northwestern.edu
FACULTY SPONSOR
Professor André de Gouvêa: degouvea@northwestern.edu
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Office Location: Tech F426
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar will explore current scientific trends which are not accepted in the main stream and have been have labeled as “pseudoscience”, “parascience”, or “fringe science”. Through a combination of examining articles and book chapters by scientists both within and without the mainstream science community, reading of critique articles about such publications, and writing to critically evaluate different theories that have been proposed, students would learn about the importance of critical thinking in science, and what makes a valid paradigm in science research.
COURSE OUTLINE
| Week 2 | Topic: Science and Non-Science: The Demarcation Problem (Slides)
Chapter 1 and 2, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005, (Required). Science and Pseudoscience (radio address), Imre Lakatos, 1973,(Required). |
| Week 3 | Topic: Epistemic Relativism and Source of Alternative Science
Chapter 1, 4, Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Picador, 1998, (Required) |
| Week 4
|
Topic: Alternative Science and its Impacts on our Lives (Slides)
Strategies for Alternative Science, Brian Martin, Published in Scott Frickel and Kelly Moore (eds.), The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), pp. 272-298, (Required) Alternative Science and Human Reproduction, R. Alta Charo, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2017 (Recommended) |
| Week 5
|
Topic: Fringe Science: Introduction and Case Study
Beyond the fringe: when science moves from innovative to nonsense, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2013, (Required). What is Heredity, A.C.R.Dean & Sir Cyril Hinschelwood, Nature, 1964 (Recommended) Submission for final paper starts. |
| Week 6
|
Topic: Pseudoscience: Introduction (Slides)
Unorthodox Science as a Popular Activity, Lyell D. Henry, Jr., The Journal of American Culture, 1981 (Required). |
| Week 7
|
Topic: Pseudoscience: Case Study
Chapter 7, Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Picador, 1998, (Required) |
| Week 8
|
Topic: Parascience: Introduction and Case Study (Slides)
Chapter 1, Electronic Voices: Contact with Another Dimension, Anabela Cardoso, O-Books, 2010 (Required) |
| Week 9
|
Topic: Evaluation Metrics for Science Research/Final Presentations
Nine Criteria for a Measure of Scientific Output, Gabriel Kreiman & John Maunsell, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 2011 (Required) Objectivity, Value Judgment, And Theory Choice, Thomas S. Kuhn, 1973 (Required) |
| Week 10
|
Final Project Due on June 5th (4pm) |
METHOD OF EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated based on their participation and final projects: either a final presentation or a one-page single-spaced critical review paper.
Final grade = Attendance (40%, 5% deduction for each missed class meeting) + Final Project (60%)
Pass: final grade 60%; Fail: final grade <60%
Final projects will be graded by student organizers and faculty sponsor. If you are writing a critical review paper for final project, it will be due on Friday of Weinberg reading period. Late assignments will not be accepted.
COURSE MATERIAL
All readings will be posted on this website.
- Chapter 1 and 2, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005, (Required).
- Science and Pseudoscience (radio address), Imre Lakatos, 1973,(Required).
- What is Heredity, A.C.R.Dean & Sir Cyril Hinschelwood, Nature, 1964 (Recommended)
- Beyond the fringe: when science moves from innovative to nonsense, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2013, (Required).
- Chapter 1, Electronic Voices: Contact with Another Dimension, Anabela Cardoso, O-Books, 2010 (Required).
- Unorthodox Science as a Popular Activity, Lyell D. Henry, Jr., The Journal of American Culture, 1981 (Required).
- Chapter 1, 4, 7, Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Picador, 1998, (Required)
- Strategies for Alternative Science, Brian Martin, Published in Scott Frickel and Kelly Moore (eds.), The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), pp. 272-298, (Required)
- Alternative Science and Human Reproduction, R. Alta Charo, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2017 (Recommended)
- Nine Criteria for a Measure of Scientific Output, Gabriel Kreiman & John Maunsell, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 2011 (Required)
- Objectivity, Value Judgment, And Theory Choice, Thomas S. Kuhn, 1973 (Required)