Science, Reason and Human Progress

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Science never stands still, and for some time now, there appears to be a growing shift in intellectual enquiry and discovery toward more cross- disciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking. The core course Science, Reason and Human Progress takes this observation as a starting point. In doing so, its ultimate goal is to make students aware of the value of scientific inquiry across different academic domains and of its fundamental relevance to societal developments. Such awareness can only be developed by first getting a basic understanding of ‘how scientific inquiry works’. To achieve this the course has three aims that are more specific. The first is to introduce students to scientific thought, language and behaviour and their relation to human progress. In this context, it will become clear that academic, scientific, and intellectual work interacts with political, social and moral change, which in turn often starts with scientific inquiry. The second aim is to help students develop and apply scientific inquiry skills. The third aim is teaching Liberal Arts & Science students to recognise how they can become part of this change in scientific and human progress that scientific inquiry brings about and possibly even lead it. In order to do so, throughout the course, emphasis lies on recognition of past, present and (possible) future scientific works (theory and applications) grounded in enlightenment