Science has given us nearly infinite possibilities for controlling life. Scientists probe the origins of life through research with stem cells and embryos. To unlock the secrets of disease, biomedicine conducts cruel experiments on animals. GM crops are presented as the answer to hunger. Organ transplantation is almost routine. The international traffic in human body parts and tissues is thriving. The concept of brain death makes harvesting organs ethically more acceptable. It may also result in fundamental changes in our ideas about life. Science has provided new ways of controlling and manipulating life and death. As a consequence, difficult ethical questions are raised in increasingly complex cultural and social environments. This course will discuss major issues in the ethics of biology and medicine, from gene modification to Dolly the sheep. This unit will be introductory, but a small number of topical issues will be studied in depth. No scientific background beyond Year 10 level will be assumed.

The topics covered by HPSC1000 - Bioethics will be treated in more depth, in a special tutorial set aside for Advanced students.

Modern culture is a culture of science and modern science is the outcome of a historical process of 2,500 years. In this course we investigate how traditional knowledge gradually acquired the characteristics of 'science': the social structure, contents, values and methods we are familiar with. We will look at some primary chapters of this process, from antiquity to the end of the seventeenth century, and try to understand their implications to understanding contemporary science in its culture. Special emphasis will be given to the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, which is often described as the most important period in the history of science and as one of the most vital stages in human intellectual history.

The topics covered in 'The Birth of Modern Science' will be covered in more depth, in a special tutorial set aside for advanced students.

(This Intermediate Unit will not be available from 2020) What distinguishes creationism from evolutionary theory, or astrology from astronomy? Can we have good reason to believe that our current scientific theories represent the world "as it really is"? This course critically examines the most important attempts to describe the scientific method, to draw a line dividing science from non-science, and to justify the high status generally accorded to scientific knowledge. Views studied include Karl Popper's idea that scientific theories are falsifiable in principle, Thomas Kuhn's proposal that science consists of a series of paradigms separated by abrupt scientific revolutions, and claims by Feyerabend and others that there are no objective criteria by which science can be distinguished from pseudo-science. This unit of study also explores contemporary theories of evidence and explanation, the role of social values in science, sociological approaches to understanding science, and the nature of scientific change.

The topics covered in 'What is This Thing Called Science?' will be covered in more depth, in a special tutorial set aside for advanced students.

Throughout the ages people have been born, have died, and in between have lived in various stages of sickness or health. In this unit of study we shall look at how these states of being were perceived in different times and places throughout history, while at the same time noting the increasing medicalisation of everyday life, together with the irony that the "miracles" of modern medicine appear to have created a generation of the "worried well". Using this historical perspective, we shall ask how perceptions of sickness, health and the related provision of health care have been intertwined with social, political and economic factors and, indeed still are today.

Modern Western science has a number of characteristics that distinguish it from other scientific cultures. It ascribes its tremendous success to sophisticated experiments and meticulous observation. It understands the universe in terms of tiny particles in motion and the forces between them. It is characterised by high- powered mathematical theorising and the rejection of any intention, value or purpose in Nature. Many of these characteristics were shaped in the 17th century, during the so-called scientific revolution. We will consider them from an integrated historical- philosophical perspective, paying special attention to the intellectual motivations of the canonical figures of this revolution and the cultural context in which they operated. Topics will include: experimentation and instrumentation, clocks, mechanistic philosophy, and the changing role of mathematics.

Across the unit we examine one of the most interesting aspects of the history and philosophy of science. viz., the scientific practices and assumptions involved in making human beings an object of study. We will examine the ways in which psychologists and psychiatrists have investigated human nature, the kinds of experimental approaches they have developed to that end, the major controversies in this field, and the basic philosophical assumptions that have been made in the sciences of human nature. We investigate the developments of psychological theories and investigative methods as well as the development of psychiatric theory, treatment methods, and institutions.

(This Senior Unit will not be available from 2020) In this unit of study, we will use approaches from the sociology to investigate the place of science in society, the internal dynamics of science, and ethical issues within science and in relation to its application. The key idea in this course is that science is a social activity that can be studied like other forms of social phenomena and behaviour. There are three components to this Unit of Study: an exploration of the motivations of scientists and how they can be described using cognitive and ethical rules; approaches in the social studies of science; and ethical issues that have become prominent because of recent developments in science.

This unit of study deals with a selection of contemporary debates in the history and philosophy of natural sciences. It covers four main themes: (1) the question of how evidence is gathered in the natural sciences and how it is (and/or other factors) go into confirming theories-we also consider what confirmation consists in (including an examination of Bayesianism). (2) Issues of modelling, representation, and measurement, including an analysis of the ways idealisation, approximation, and simulation are to be understood. (3) Models of scientific explanation, including recent work on laws, prediction, and causality. (4) issues of emergence and reduction, including the problems associated with defining such concepts - we also consider notions of simplicity and the impact of the sciences of complexity. The unit of study involves case studies from the natural sciences that allow students to apply their knowledge and test their understanding. Upon completion of the unit, students will have developed a range of skills that will allow them to explore the physical sciences with more critical attitude.