what is science?

No assignment this week, so no reason not to have done the reading for next week's class (especially as it's an extra short paper). This one will involve a trip to the library as we aren't allowed to put the digital version on WebCT. It should be easy to find, though - go to Level 3, walk to the back and look for Social Studies of Science. You want volume 30, number 1, p.158-160 - the paper is by Bloor and Edge and is called 'Knowing Reality through Society'. You could even scan it yourselves for free.

We're going to be talking about what science is, how it works, and what it means to work in it; so you might want to start thinking about that. You could have a look at some science blogs (I found an interesting one from a PhD student here) or have a browse in the library's philosophy of science section. Plus, if you've done a year in industry or been involved in the UROP programme, be thinking about your experiences as I think they may be useful to us.