PG 374 - Political Theory, Science and Technology

In the last one hundred years, rapid advances in science and technology have fundamentally transformed the world in which we live. For some thinkers, these advances promise a better future, one in which human beings might live happier, healthier, and more productive lives. Others, however, see modern science and technology as in tension with the values of democracy. How, these latter thinkers ask, is freedom realized in contemporary society? In what ways are science, rationality and technology tools for domination? For emancipation? This course examines the complex relationship between science, technology and politics from the perspective of political theorists such as Herbert Marcuse, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault, as well as more recent theorists such as Donna Haraway and Bruno Latour. It pays particular attention to the question of how scientific and technological change can be open to democratic participation. Group I Writing