HPSC3021 - Philosophy and Sociology of the Biological Sciences: Sex and Death

NOT AVAILABLE 2010 (RECOMMEND HPSC 3002 SEMESTER TWO)
Lecturer: Dr Dominic Murphy

Prerequisites: Either (HPSC2001 and HPSC2002) or (a CR or above in HPSC2001 or HPSC2002) and at least 24 credit points of Intermediate or Senior units of study
6 credit points
2 x (1-hour lecture plus 1-hour tutorial) per week (see timetable)
Assessment: tutorial work, essays, tutorial participation


This class is a discussion of the philosophical and social issues raised by the life sciences. We will look in particular at evolutionary theory, molecular biology and neuroscience. Philosophical issues include the concepts of function, gene, and adaptation, as well as epistemic problems. We will consider whether biology has laws, or whether its explanations take a different form. A further question looks to more fundamental sciences and asks how biology relates to physics and chemistry, as well as how different parts of biology relate to each other. Another set of questions looks out to the social sciences and the humanities. We will ask whether biology has implications for our self-understanding, conduct and political arrangements. We will discuss the idea of Darwinism as an intellectual tradition that goes beyond evolutionary biology and into wider cultural areas, and we will study recent suggestions that genetics or neuroscience can answer questions about human nature in a way that makes other inquiries obsolete.


In This Unit of Study We Will Discuss:

• The Darwinian revolution
• Changes in how we understand genes and genetics
• Theories and explanations in biology
• The mind, the self and the brain