Re: Is there a Ph.D. in "science" Re: [xmca] Fwd: New Degree ProgramsOxford

From: Diarmuid Fogarty <diarmuid who-is-at madasafish.com>
Date: Tue Jun 19 2007 - 10:21:50 PDT

I too would like to be removed and wonder if there might not be a way
of suspending the list until the membership issues are sorted out?

Diarmuid

El 19-jun-07, a las 17:08, Yvette Solomon escribió:

> please can you remove me from the list?
> many thanks
> Yvette
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Whitson" <twhitson@UDel.Edu>
> To: <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu>; "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
> <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 4:40 PM
> Subject: Is there a Ph.D. in "science" Re: [xmca] Fwd: New Degree
> ProgramsOxford
>
>
>> Mike's post reminds me of a question I've had reason to ask lately:
>>
>> Does anybody know of anyplace that offers a Ph.D. in
>> "Science" (rather than, say, Biology, Chemistry, Bio-Chem, etc.)?
>>
>> Background for the question:
>> In the US, recent conflicts over teaching evolution have centered
>> on the right way to define "science." For example, until after the
>> most recent elections, the State School Board in Kansas changed
>> the definition of "Science" in their "Science" standards so that
>> "science" in Kansas was not limited to seeking explanations based
>> on natural principles (i.e., supernatural explanations were to be
>> permissable in "science").
>>
>> These are the terms in which the conflict still continues, with
>> advocates of "Intelligent Design" (including Steve Fuller, BTW),
>> arguing that the groundrules and definition of science should be
>> changed so as not to exclude the supernatural.
>>
>> While others are debating this, I want to ask -- from a curriculum
>> perspective -- if there is really such a thing as "science" in the
>> first place. There is an institutionalized inquiring social
>> enterprise called "Biology" and there is another one called
>> "Economics"; but is there really such a thing as "science" as
>> such, or is that just an umbrella terms for an array of diverse
>> enterprises that may share some things in common?
>>
>> I have no doubt that there are natural sciences that have in
>> common a defining purpose of seeking naturalistic explanations.
>> Whether or not somebody comes up with some philosophic argument or
>> definition by which Intelligent Design meets criteria for being
>> called a "science" (or some kind of Wissenschaft), it would still
>> be something different from the essentially naturalistic natural
>> science disciplines that comprise our "science" curriculum in the US.
>>
>> My point is not to suggest openness to the ID argument for
>> redefining science. What I'm suggesting is that this whole
>> question is irrelevant to the curriculum questions at issue. If
>> curriculum consists of the course of learning experience in which
>> human formation occurs through Legitimate Peripheral Participation
>> (leading to more full participation) in Activities or Practices of
>> actual communities or social enterprises, then it is the actual
>> practices of actual communities who do biology, etc. -- including
>> transformative practices such as those featured in work by Latour,
>> etc. on innovation -- that would be the practices of interest for
>> curriculum. The practices of Biology are those of naturalistic
>> natural science and, simply as an empirical (rather than a
>> definitional) matter, these do not include the discourses and
>> practices of the Intelligent Design Community. Whether ID should
>> be a subject in the curriculum could be another question; but it
>> would not belong within the subject of Biology -- for reasons that
>> have nothing to do with the war over abstract definitions of what
>> is and is not "science."
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> On Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Mike Cole wrote:
>>
>>> *Announcing two new degree programs at University of Oxford that are
>>> relevant to those interested in cognition and religion.*
>>>
>>> *Please pass on to interested students (or colleagues who might have
>>> interested students).*
>>>
>>> *Thanks,*
>>>
>>> *Justin Barrett*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *ICEA MSc *
>>>
>>> What makes us human? What makes culture possible? The
>>> University of
>>> Oxford's new Institute for Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology
>>> announces a
>>> new 12 month MSc degree to commence in October 2007. This
>>> program in "Human
>>> Biology" explores human thought, behaviour, and culture from the
>>> perspectives of the evolutionary and cognitive sciences. Degree
>>> candidates
>>> will read in primate behavioral ecology, human evolution (with a
>>> behavioral
>>> ecology emphasis), mind and culture, and quantitative methods in
>>> the human
>>> sciences; and complete a supervised 10,000 word dissertation.
>>> Program staff
>>> includes Professor Robin Dunbar, Professor Harvey Whitehouse, and
>>> Dr. Justin
>>> Barrett. Additional information about the course and how to
>>> apply is
>>> available at http://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/admissions/how_to_apply.shtml.
>>> Applications for the 2007-2008 year will be accepted until July
>>> 26, 2007.
>>>
>>> *ICEA DPhil *
>>>
>>> How can cognitive or evolutionary insights help explain patterns
>>> in cultural
>>> expression? The University of Oxford's new Institute for
>>> Cognitive &
>>> Evolutionary Anthropology announces a new 3 year DPhil degree to
>>> commence in
>>> October 2007. This research program offers the opportunity to
>>> explore human
>>> thought, behaviour, and culture from the perspectives of the
>>> evolutionary
>>> and cognitive sciences. Those who already have an appropriate
>>> graduate
>>> degree in a related area (e.g., experimental psychology,
>>> anthropology,
>>> evolution) may apply as Probationer Research Students (PRS) in
>>> the first
>>> instance; they may nonetheless subsequently be advised that one
>>> of the
>>> master's degrees may be more suitable for them to start with.
>>> Program staff
>>> includes Professor Robin Dunbar, Professor Harvey Whitehouse, and
>>> Dr. Justin
>>> Barrett. Additional information about how to apply is available at
>>> http://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/admissions/how_to_apply.shtml.
>>> Applications for
>>> the 2007-2008 year will be accepted until July 26, 2007.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> xmca mailing list
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>
>>
>> Tony Whitson
>> UD School of Education
>> NEWARK DE 19716
>>
>> twhitson@udel.edu
>> _______________________________
>>
>> "those who fail to reread
>> are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
>> -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>

_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Received on Tue Jun 19 10:24 PDT 2007

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sun Jul 01 2007 - 00:30:04 PDT