2007–2008 Science, Technology, and Society Courses
Surgically and Pharmacologically Shaping Selves
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
From body piercing and alcohol to peyote and psychotherapy, human beings have always sought to shape their bodies and moods. Today, when we use surgery and pharmacology to change how we appear and act, we often say that we are changing our “identities.” When explaining why we undertake such changes, we often say that we are attempting to become “authentic” or “who we really are.” And when we criticize such identity-altering interventions, we often do so on the grounds that they are “inauthentic.” This seminar invites students to notice the burgeoning number of identity-altering projects that are becoming possible, to think critically about the language of authenticity that is used to promote and criticize those projects, and to think about what sorts of identity-altering they think they and those around them ought to pursue. Class discussion will be built around texts from several genres, including personal narrative, public policy, philosophy, and history. We will consider cases including the use of drugs like Prozac, Ritalin, and Viagra and the use of surgery to do things like lengthen the limbs of adolescents who are dwarfs, enable children who are deaf to hear, and enable people to transition from the sex they were born with into the one they say is “authentic” for them.
On the Prospect of a ”Posthuman Future“
Level: Open
Semester: Spring
From circumcision and foot binding to matchmaking and public schools, human beings have always sought to shape themselves and their children. The convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive neuroscience (or “NBIC,” according to the National Science Foundation) seems poised to radically transform our capacity to pursue that ancient ambition. The aim of this course is to understand the emerging and increasingly vitriolic public debate about the prospect of what some are calling our “posthuman future”—and to begin to articulate our own positions vis-à-vis that debate. As sympathetically and critically as possible, we will explore the arguments for and against pursuing such a future. We will investigate what conceptions of technology, nature, normality, and happiness are at work on each side of the debate. And we will seek to understand how different conceptions of those key terms predictably aggregate to form what might be called distinctive ethical frameworks. Most important, we will seek to understand the ethical framework that we find ourselves operating out of when we come to the debate about the technological transformation of our bodies and those of our children. Class discussion will be built around texts from multiple genres, including bioethics, public policy, philosophy, and psychology.