HNUH278Y

Formerly: HONR299I. Scientific research has the power to advance understanding, create new technologies, and improve our lives. And yet scientific language - which is essential for these achievements - can be appear opaque and untrustworthy to non-scientists. Indeed, the fact that scientific understanding develops over time can even make the knowledge seem capricious. As a result, science is both unfairly maligned and unrealistically praised, sometimes even in the same breath. Through both the philosophy of science and historical scientific literature, we will survey how scientists have done and expressed science. Students will be empowered to critically evaluate current conceptions of science as these are revealed in the debates around climate change and COVID-19. Restricted to UH students matriculating in Fall 2020 or later. This course is part of the In A Word Thematic Cluster and must be paired with HNUH278A to complete the cluster. In A Word courses will be offered through Spring 2023.