PPHS Courses

The education and training of an engineer are based solely on technical knowledge, such as how to build a bridge or design a computer. On the other hand, researchers in the social sciences or humanities are trained to think in abstract concepts of society or the individual. Research in Humanities is also used to understand consumer behavior and how to influence it to increase corporate profits. This separation between the social and natural sciences gives the impression that technology is neutral. But technology is neither neutral nor is it produced in isolation from existing power and political constellations. Therefore, technology reorganizes political and power relations in terms of who owns the knowledge to produce the tools that are part of our conditions of survival [Timothy Mitchell, The Rule of Experts, 2002]. This separation between the natural and social sciences is sometimes broken by individuals through personal interests developed by the student or the researcher, but it is not often done at an institutional or structural level.

Therefore, this lecture series attempts to critically examine the division between the social and natural sciences and how to bridge the gap at the institutional level. This lecture series attempts to bring together disciplines from the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. The speakers will critically analyze the strong separation between these disciplines and how technology organizes political and power relations. The speakers will also consider why certain technologies have stood the test of time while others have not.