Sharon Albert:
Cho, Francisca, and Richard K. Squier. ““He Blinded Me With Science”: Science Chauvinism in the Study of Religion.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76.2 (2008): 420 -448. Web. http://0-jaar.oxfordjournals.org.library.muhlenberg.edu/content/76/2/420.full
This article questions the privileging of science and scientific method as primary criteria for legitimating other fields of study, and particularly the academic study of religion. The authors argue that a re-examination of the assumptions not only of religion but also of science itself “actually suggests more similarities than differences,” and will ultimately "render the academic study of religion [and of science] into . . . comparable 'research tradition[s].'”
Jim Bloom:
Uglow, Jenny. "The Other Side of Science." New York Review of Books 57.11 (2010): 30-34. Print. 31 Aug. 2010. Available in Trexler Library, A level, microfilm.
Everyone should read this because it persuasively makes the distinction so-called liberal learning rests on: the unattainable wisdom to which we ideally aspire as opposed to the easy pursuit of ephemeral information, the "expertise" and "authority" discussed in the article. Think of the near reverence with which we utter such phrases as "best practices" and "benchmarking."
Everyone should read this because in considering "all forms of cultural performance" Uglow and Shapin evoke the fun, necessity, and difficulty sidestepped by another of our glibly bandied phrases "interdisciplinarity." After reading this article, you may want to substitute this infelicitous piece of shopworn academese for the earthier noun impurity. The impurity or sheer messiness that inquiry and learning require, though inevitably at odds with institutional efficiency and personal security, not only keep us in touch with physical matter and intangible ideas in all their recalcitrant complexity. Impurity also keeps us free and open to experience as the following observations, from different kinds of perspectives, indicate:
- "Cultural purity is an oxymoron. The odds are that, culturally speaking, you already live a cosmopolitan life, enriched by literature, art, and film that come from many places." Anthony Kwame Appiah, Cosmopolitanism (2007)
- "For Bohr, physics was not about finding out what nature is, but about what can be said about it. Quantum mechanics was a complete theory of the behavior of matter and light, and we just have to come to terms with the limitations it places on what can be known, for example as illustrated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Einstein was having none of it. He believed that there is an objective world out there and that it is the job of scientists to describe it. The appearance of probabilities in the theory was, for him, evidence of its incompleteness." Review of Quantum by Manjit Kumar Quantum New York Times Book Review I 6-13-10.
- "Theron could not feel sure how much of the priest's discourse was in jest, how much in earnest. 'It seems to me,' he said, 'that as things are going, it doesn't look much as if the America of the future will trouble itself about any kind of a church. The march of science must very soon produce a universal skepticism. It is in the nature of human progress. What all intelligent men recognize to-day, the masses must surely come to see in time.'" Harold Fredric, The Damnation of Theron Ware (1896)
Jim Bloom:
McEwan, Ian. Solar: A Novel. 1st ed. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2010. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 823.914 M142so
When Nobel prize-winning physicist Michael Beard's personal and professional lives begin to intersect in unexpected ways, an opportunity presents itself in the guise of an invitation to travel to New Mexico. Here is a chance for him to extricate himself from his marital problems, reinvigorate his career, and very possibly save the world from environmental disaster.
Keri Colabroy:
Sarewitz, Daniel. "Entertaining science." Nature 466.7302 (2010): 27. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 3 Sept. 2010. Available in Trexler Library, level C periodicals
Jeff Pooley:
Daston, Lorraine, and Peter Galison. “The Image of Objectivity.” Representations 40 (1992): 81-128. JSTOR. Web. 2 September 2010. http://0-www.jstor.org.library.muhlenberg.edu/stable/pdfplus/2928741.pdf?acceptTC=true
Prof. Bruce Wightman has selected representative works from the four key speakers invited by the Center for Ethics for Fall 2010, plus some other of his favorite articles, all of which speak to issues of HOW science gets done by human beings (rather than the content of the science itself).
Douglas, Heather E. Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 174.95 D734s
Our first speaker, Douglas addresses the “problem” of bias in scientific thought with a focus on the influence of science on public policy and policy-makers. Douglas’s book provides a very accessible philosophy of science, with an excellent history of the growth of the role of scientists in shaping public policy over the 20th century. In so doing, Douglas reveals the inherent tension among scientists who often want to be seen as outside politics, yet want their work to publicly funded and valued by society.
Livio, Mario. Is God a Mathematician? New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 510 L788i
Mathematical arguments have great persuasiveness and in science the gold standard remains a mathematically-predictive model of a particular mechanism. Livio addresses the fundamental question of why math explains so much of the natural world. Is it because there is something natural about mathematics? Or is mathematics a construct of human beings that limits the kind of questions we ask? Livio’s book includes an extensive review of the history of mathematics. Some readers have been confused by the fact that Livio doesn’t answer the title question, entirely missing the point. There are, of course, massive philosophical and religious implications to asking the question in the first place.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 616.02774 S628i
Skloot’s gripping history of the HeLa cell line and the family that provided it reads like a work of fiction even though it is the outcome of a decade of exhaustive and intensive journalistic research. Skloot takes us inside the mid-20th century ethic of medical research, where human beings, especially poor, disenfranchised human beings, were seen only as subjects to be studied. We learn about the unintended consequences of research on human subjects, how scientists’ infamous inability to communicate effectively with laypeople can have disastrous results, and confront America’s horrifying history of Nazi-like research on retarded African-Americans.
Cassidy, David C. Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and Thebomb. New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2009. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 530.092 C345b
An engaging and readable work of scientific history, Cassidy takes us deep inside Heisenberg’s participation in trying to help build a nuclear weapon for Nazi Germany. Cassidy addresses issues of moral responsibility of scientists and how guilt can mold how scientists contextualize their own work.
Mayr, Ernst. “Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought.” Scientific American 283.1 (2000): 78-83. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Level C Periodicals
Certainly among the greatest biologists, Harvard’s Ernst Mayr discusses how 19th century Darwinian ideas framed the 20th century western zeitgeist. In this short article written for laypeople, Mayr explains how evolution and natural selection led to changes in how people think about themselves and about society. Among other things, he discusses how variation along a cline helps us to reject essentialism and (among other things) the racism that comes with it.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. 1st ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Main Collection call # 291.175 B239r, 1997
Barbour’s work stands as one of the key books that define the field of science and religion studies. Barbour, a Carleton College physicist, provides a brilliant and sweeping examination of the implications of scientific thought for Christian theology. This is a must-read for anyone interested in a serious examination of how faith can be rationally informed by scientific understanding. Barbour remains a key voice in rejecting assumptions that science and religion are, and/or must be, in conflict with each other.
Moore, John Alexander. Science as a Way of Knowing: The Foundations of Modern Biology. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1993. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 574.09 M822s
Moore’s book traces the history of science with a layperson’s attention to the distinctive philosophy that defines science as an enterprise. He shows how the “scientific revolution” of Bacon, Galileo and Newton developed over a slow historical process starting with Aristotle. The book uses generous specific examples to help explain how the scientific approach came to be, and by extension how it is different from other methods of inquiry. Moore avoids the trap of reducing science to a particular definitive methodology, without sacrificing the distinctiveness of science as a mode of inquiry.
Gould, S. J., and R. C. Lewontin. “The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 205.1161 (1979): 581 -598. Web. Available via library subscription at http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/205/1161/581.full.pdf+html
Not so much a paper about science, but one of my favorite examples of great science writing. Gould and Lewontin use highly effective metaphors from architecture and literature to deliver a resounding critique of “adaptionists”—biologists who assume that evolutionary adaptation must be the explanation for anything we observe. This paper still stands today as a key work in biological thought and brought the word “spandrels” into the scientific vernacular. It also demonstrates how scientists can effectively borrow ideas and examples from other disciplines.
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 501 K96s, 1996
A massively influential work on the history of science, Kuhn provides a framework for understanding how scientific thinking is guided by paradigms and how major breaks from the paradigm often come from scientific researchers whose training is in a different discipline.
Judson, Horace Freeland. The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 574.8732 J93e
An engaging history of molecular biology, Judson focuses on the individuals who made the key breakthroughs in the middle of the 20th century that gave us an understanding of how to unify biology, physics, and chemistry through molecular genetics.
Works by Heather Douglas
"Prediction, Explanation, and Dioxin Biochemistry: Science in Public Policy." Foundations of Chemistry 6.1 (2004): 49-63. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17044773&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 174.95 D734s
Works about Heather Douglas
Heather Douglas. University of Tennessee Dept. of Philosophy, 2010. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. http://web.utk.edu/~philosop/staff/douglas.html.
Works about Science and Policymaking
Finkel, Madelon Lubin. Truth, Lies, and Public Health: How We Are Affected When Science and Politics Collide. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2007. Web. http://0-www.netlibrary.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=218344
Holland, Suzanne, et al, eds. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 174.2 H918e
Melo-Martín, Inmaculada de. Taking Biology Seriously: What Biology Can and Cannot Tell Us About Moral and Public Policy Issues. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 174.2 M528t
Works by Mario Livio
The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 512.209 L788e
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number. 1st ed. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 516.204 L788g
Is God a Mathematician?New York : Simon & Schuster, 2010. Print. Available in Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Rm call # 510 L788i
Livio, Mario. "Moving right along." Astronomy 30.7 (2002): 34-9. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.library.muhlenberg.edu
"Searching for the Golden Ratio." Astronomy 31.4 (2003): 52-7. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.library.muhlenberg.edu
Works about Mario Livio
Frank, Adam. "The Livio Code." Astronomy 35.3 (2007): 52-6. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.library.muhlenberg.edu
Works about Math As Human Invention vs. Math As Natural Discovery
Adam, John A. Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2003. Print. Available in Trexler Library call # 511.8 A194m
Penrose, Roger. "Einstein's Vision and the Mathematics of the Natural World." Sciences 19.3 (1979): 6. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4861345&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Grattan-Guinness, Ivor. "Solving Wigner's Mystery: The Reasonable (Though Perhaps Limited) Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences." Mathematical Intelligencer 30.3 (2008): 7-17. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=33958399&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Works by Jeffrey Ball
“Currents -- Power Shift: As an Efficiency Rating, the Energy Star Has Faded --- Homes Given the Eco-Designation Could Face Tougher Rules if the EPA Revises a Program It Says Is Too Lax.” Wall Street Journal 26 June 2009: A.10. Web. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/pqdweb?did=1761565891&sid=3&Fmt=4&clientId=45221&RQT=309&VName=PQD
“Currents -- Power Shift: Clean Energy Sources: Sun, Wind and Subsidies --- As Governments Increase Spending and Support for Renewable Power, Even Fans Wonder If Aid Could Be More Efficient.” Wall Street Journal 8 Jan. 2010: A.13. Web. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/pqdweb?did=1935098831&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=45221&RQT=309&VName=PQD
“Currents -- Power Shift: Small Energy-Saving Steps Can Make Big Strides --- High-Tech Solutions Can Help Lower Consumption, but Researchers See Faster Progress in Low-Tech Measures; Think Cook Stoves.” Wall Street Journal 27 Nov. 2009: A.16. Web. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/pqdweb?did=1908804291&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=45221&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Works about Jeffrey Ball
"Jeffrey Ball: Environmental Journalist." Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows Program. Council of Independent Colleges, 2010. Web. 31 August 2010. http://www.cic.edu/projects_services/visitingfellows/visiting_fellows_bios.asp#BALL
Works about Energy and the Environment
Parenti, Christian. "The Big Green Buy." Nation 291.5/6 (2010): 15-20. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=53027485&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Jacobson, Mark Z., and Mark A. Delucchi. "A PATH TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY BY 2030. (Cover story)." Scientific American 301.5 (2009): 58-65. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 31 Aug. 2010. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.muhlenberg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=44617061&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Works by David C. Cassidy
Cassidy, David C. Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb. New York: Bellevue Literary Press,
2009. Print.
Available on the A Level of Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Room, 530.092 C345b
Cassidy, David C. "Germany and the bomb: New evidence." Scientific American 268.2 (1993): 120. Print.
Available on Level C of the Trexler Library, Periodicals
Cassidy, David C. "Heisenberg, German Science, and the Third Reich." Social Research 59.3 (1992): 643-661. Academic
Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Cassidy, David C. "New Light on Copenhagen and the German Nuclear Project." Physics in Perspective 4.4 (2002): 447.
Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Works about the Ethics of the Scientific Use of Technology
Berne, Rosalyn W. "Towards the Conscientious Development of Ethical Nanotechnology." Science & Engineering Ethics
10.4 (2004): 627-638. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
"Ethics of Science & Technology." Connect: UNESCO International Science, Technology &
Environmental Education Newsletter 29.3/4 (2004): 1-4. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept.
2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Lavelle, Sylvain. "Science, Technology and Ethics: From Critical Perspective to Dialectical Perspective."
Ethical Theory & Moral Practice 8.3 (2005): 217-238. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Palevsky, Mary. Atomic Fragments: A Daughter's Questions. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Print.
Available on Level B on the Trexler Library, Main Collection 355.825119 P 166a
Weiss, Charles. "Defining Precaution: UNESCO's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and
Technology Report: The Precautionary Principle." Environment 49.8 (2007): 33-36. Academic Search
Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010
Available through Academic Search Complete
Works by Rebecca Skloot
Skloot, Rebecca. "Cells That Save Lives Are a Mother's Legacy." New York Times 17 Nov. 2001: 15.
Article available through LexisNexis
Skloot, Rebecca. "Librarians: The Secret to Narrative History." Library Journal 134.20 (2009): 126. Academic
Search Premier.
Article available through Academic Search Complete
Skloot, Rebecca. 2009. "The Immortal Book Tour. (Cover story)." Publishers Weekly 256, no. 45: 22-24.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishers: New York, 2010. Print.
Available on the A Level of Trexler Library, Muhlenberg Room, 616.02774 S628i
Works about Rebecca Skloot
ALTER, ALEXANDRA. "An Unwitting Heroine of Science." Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition 12 Feb. 2010:
W6.
Available through Proquest Wall Street Journal Database
GARNER, DWIGHT. "A Woman's Undying Gift To Science." New York Times (2010): 1.
Available through LexisNexis
Hubbard, Kim. "The Woman Whose Cells Never Died." People 73.7 (2010): 53.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Seaman, Donna. "Story Behind the Story: Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." Booklist
106.7 (2009): 18.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Works about Medical Ethics and Research with Human Subjects
Bozeman, Barry, Catherine Slade, and Paul Hirsch. "Ethics in Research and Practice." American Journal of
Public Health 99.9 (2009): 1549-1556. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Dresser, Rebecca. "First-in-Human Trial Participants: Not a Vulnerable Population, but Vulnerable
Nonetheless." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 37.1 (2009): 38-50. Academic Search Complete .
EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Katz, Ralph V., et al. "Awareness of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the US Presidential Apology and Their
lnfluence on Minority Participation in Biomedical Research." American Journal of Public Health
98.6 (2008): 1137-1142. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Kimmel, Allan J. "Ethics and human subjects research: A delicate balance." American Psychologist 34.7
(1979): 633-635. PsycARTICLES. EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through PsycArticles
Matutina, Robin E. "Ethical issues in research with children and young people." Paediatric Nursing 21.8
(2009): 38-44. Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
Shakir, Muhjah. "Women's Narratives, Stitches that Bind, Stories that Heal: The Syphilis Study and the
Tuskegee Bioethics Community Quilt Project." Interdisciplinary Humanities 25.2 (2008): 62-76.
AcademicSearch Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete
WOLF, LESLIE E., TIMOTHY A. BOULEY, and CHARLES E. MCCULLOCH. "Genetic Research with Stored
Biological Materials: Ethics and Practice." IRB: Ethics & Human Research 32.2 (2010): 7-18.
Academic Search Complete . EBSCO. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
Available through Academic Search Complete