Module SOCM016 for 2017/8
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
SOCM016: Cultures of the Life Sciences
This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Topics will be drawn from the following:
Natural history and the role of classification in biology
Experimental practices
Modelling practices
Data sharing and intellectual property
Publishing practices
The role of concepts such as ‘gene’
Bioinformatics and the role of computers in biology
Sociopolitics of biology
Relations between biology and medicine
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
23 | 277 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
scheduled learning activity | 22 | 11 x 2 hour lectures |
scheduled learning activity | 1 | 1 hour writing tutorial (in preparation for essay writing) |
Guided independent study | 110 | 11 x 10 hours of course readings |
Guided independent study | 40 | Preparation of presentation |
Guided independent study | 127 | Reading/research for and writing of essay |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Web based and electronic resources:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic readings:
Atkinson, P, Glasner, P and Lock, M (2009) Handbook of Genetics and Society. Routledge.
Dupre, J (1993) The Disorder of Things. Cambridge University Press.
Grene, M. & Depew, D. (2004). The philosophy of biology. Cambridge: CUP.
Mueller-Wille, S and Rheinberger, H (2012) A Conceptual History of Heredity. Chicago University Press.
Sarkar, S., & Plutynski, A., Eds. (2008). A companion to the philosophy of biology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Wimsatt, W. (2007). Re-engineering philosophy for limited beings. Harvard: HUP.