Paper 6: Ethics and Politics of Science, Technology and Medicine
You should answer four questions in total. Answer one question from Section A and
three questions from Section B. All questions carry equal weighting.
SECTION A
1. In what senses is scientific knowledge social?
2. Can science be objective? Ought it be?
3. How should we divide labour between scientists and policy-makers?
SECTION B
4. Do social interests distort scientific knowledge?
5. Can scientific experiments be replicated?
6. “No idea is more provocative in controversies about technology and society
than the notion that technological things have political qualities” (Langdon
Winner, 1988). Has the accuracy of this statement changed since 1988?
7. “Close contact between science and the practice of collective farms and State
farms creates inexhaustible opportunities for the development of theoretical
knowledge” (Trofim Lysenko, 1948). Discuss.
8. Debates about the climate are as old as civilisation itself. Is our current
preoccupation with climate any different?
9. Should we ban alcohol?
10. Pronuclear Transfer (PNT) involves manipulating and destroying human
embryos. Does this have any relevance for our ethical assessment of the
technology?
11. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Longino’s contextual empiricism?
12. “As long as everyone involved consents to the process, use of MRTs is
ethically unproblematic.” Discuss.
13. Can scientists communicate climate knowledge in value-free ways? Should
they?
14. How can we assess whether technology progresses?
15. Does the fact of climate change undermine Marxist accounts of the
development of the productive forces? Does this matter?