Postgraduate Diploma in Science (History and Philosophy of Science)
Academic titlePostgraduate Diploma in Science (History and Philosophy of Science)
Course descriptionResearch projects can be accommodated in a variety of areas and prospective students should contact the coordinator for assistance with selection of a topic. The Department specialises in the following areas:
* History of the physical sciences
* Relations of science, philosophy and political thought in the early modern Europe and in the twentieth century
* History of medicine and the biomedical sciences
* Metaphysics of scientific realism
* Epistemic naturalism
* The nature of risk in relation to contemporary technological innovation
* The idea of ‘Nature' in the context of contemporary environmental and human sciences
* How science might generatively engage other knowledge traditions
* Social context of computer-based technologies
Course structure
The course consists of a 12 000 word supervised research project (37.5%) and a coursework component of five of the Department's honours and postgraduate level seminars (each weighted 12.5%, and requiring the equivalent of 5000 words each). The seminars, of which students are required to complete four, may be chosen from the following:
* 136-442 Directed Study (semester 1 and semester 2)
* 136-509 Science and Ideology in the 20th Century (semester 1)
* 136-544 Beyond the Spin: Techno-scientific Failure (semester 2)
* 136-528 Medicine and Culture (semester 2)
* 136-542 Practicum (semester 1 and semester 2)
* 136-545 Science and its Publics (semester 1)
* 136-527 Ecology and Environmentalism (semester 1)
* 136-536 Scientific Realism and Anti-Realism (semester 2)
* 161-484 The Western Tradition & its Discontents (semester 2)
Students may choose a maximum of two honours subjects in philosophy as electives from the following:
* PHIL40005 Metaphysics and Epistemology (semester 2)
* PHIL40013 Topics in Advanced Logic (semester 2)