content_copy

“I Can Study That?!”: The Science and the Common Good Minor at Ursinus College

I Can Study That?!

The Minor/Major

This week’s feature is the Science and the Common Good Minor at Ursinus College. From the website:

Science and the Common Good is an interdisciplinary minor designed to challenge students to consider the connection between science and other ways of understanding – ethical, political, religious, artistic – and to ponder how science can help or hinder our efforts to live together.

Students enrolled in the minor take the core Science and the Common Good course, an ethics course, 1-2 courses linking science and another discipline, 2-3 courses from the natural sciences/mathematics/computer science, and complete an experiential learning experience.  

The minor is housed within the Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good.

Two Interesting Courses

POL-399 Science and the Common Good

This is the core course for the fellows of the Center for Science and the Common Good.  It examines the philosophic bases and critique of modern science through the works of such authors as Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger.  The course also considers the ethical, political, and religious implications of contemporary developments in science such as advancements in genetic and information technologies.

HEP-275 Health Ethics

This course examines a broad range of health-related ethical problems. It considers conceptual frameworks in public health and medicine and applies these frameworks to real world examples. Topics include justice and access to health care, clinical and diagnostic decision-making, patient autonomy and cultural humility, public versus personal responsibility for health, research ethics, and environmental health

Five Possible Complementary Majors at Ursinus College

Unique Opportunities within the Major/Minor

Ursinius’ Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good offers students the opportunity to become Student Fellows, engage in research through the FUTURE Program, or participate in internships that allow them to “practice civic leadership at the intersection of science and society.” 

Sample Similar Programs