Ethics and the public role of social scientists

WGS course:

Ethics and the public role of social scientists

November 1 – December 11, 2006

This course will be offered in the afternoons of: 1, 15, 27 November and 11 December

(1 ECTS)

Introduction

Social scientists are more and more confronted with ethical issues, both intra-scientific developments (like non-discrimination on the workplace, treatment of research subjects and conflicts on publication) and from outside science, i.e. from society, like the concern with biotechnology, food safety or the role of private interests in food production. These questions will be dealt with in this course from an ethical point of view; students will be trained in dealing with these issues in an ethically clear and rational way.

The course consists of 4 two-hour workshop meetings in which participants’ and other dilemmas, texts and lectures will be intensively discussed.

Extension of the course is possible up to 3 ECTS, by writing a paper.

On the first meeting, there will be a discussion on the basis of dilemmas presented by the participants and the teacher and a method will be presented for tackling dilemmas. In the second meeting Prof. T. Lang (City University of London), who is rather critical of the influence of private interests in food policies, gives a presentation on conflicts of interests in food policy & followed by discussion. Prof Lang is author (with Erik Millstone) of The Atlas of Food (Earthscan, London, 2003). With Yiannis Gabriel he wrote The Unmanageable Consumer (Sage, London, 1995, new edition 2006). He also wrote Food Wars: the global health battle for minds, mouths and markets (Earthscan, 2003) on the impact of globalization on food, health and culture.

The subsequent meetings will be devoted to the (supposed) value freedom of science, the distinction between description and prescription and more substantive ethical issues, like genetical modification of crops and the ethic of publication or other topics that are of interest to the participants.

Lecturers:

Prof. Michiel Korthals, Applied Philosophy, Wageningen University

Tel: +31 317-483719/ +31 317-484178,

E-mail: michiel.korthals@wur.nl

Prof. Tim Lang, City University London

Participants

The target group is Social Science PhD candidates of all Wageningen Graduate Schools. Staff members are also invited to participate. There are no special prerequisites for this course.

Programme and literature

1. Wednesday 1 November: 14:15 - 16:15 hrs (room C75)

Discussion about several ethical dilemmas and short cases.

Introduction into ethics; Five Step Scheme of Managing Ethical Problems

Read: Korthals, chapter 5-6

2. Wednesday 15 November: 15:15 - 17:00 hrs (room C75)

Lecture of Prof. Tim Lang, on public and private interests in food science and food policy

3. Monday 27 November: 14:15 - 16:15 hrs (room Mansholtzaal)

Dilemmas of ethics of doing research: colleagues, gender, publications and communication to the public

Read: Korthals & Bogers, Chapter 4-6

4. Monday 11 December: 14:15 - 16:15 hrs (room Mansholtzaal)

Discussion on science, politics and ethical dilemmas when doing research for industrial or societal organizations: presentation by students

Required reading:

Korthals, M., 2004, Before Dinner. Philosophy and Ethics of Food. Springer (Ch 2,3,5,6), copies will be distributed on registration.

Korthals, M., and R. Bogers (eds.), 2004, Professional Ethics, Kluwer (on the web: http://library.wur.nl/frontis/ethics/toc_ethics.html) (chapter 4-6)

Credits

1 or 3 ECTS (read above)

Attendance and active participation; including one oral presentation.

Course fee: PhD students of WUR with an approved Education Plan (TSP) of one of the WGS and post-docs registered at one of the WGS will pay 150 euro. All others pay 300 euro.

The fee includes study and training material, coffee / tea.

Registration

The minimum number of participants is 10 and the maximum is 20. Admittance to the course takes place in the order of registration. PhD students have preference if they register before October 15.

Please register following the link:

http://www.sls.wau.nl/mi/mgs/procedures_and_forms/Course_registration_form.htm

Location

Wageningen University, De Leeuwenborch Building 127, Room C75 or Masholtzaal Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen

Further Information

For further information about the content of the course please contact Michiel Korthals: Michiel.Korthals@wur.nl

For details about logistics, accommodation, registration, fees, study materials, etc. please contact

Marcella Haan

Tel +310317 484126

Marcella.Haan@wur.nl