Minor in Ethical Issues in Science and Technology
The Minor in Ethical Issues in Science and Technology is offered jointly by the NEXA Program and the Department of Philosophy. The focus of this minor is on ethical conflicts as they arise in scientific and technological fields and as they influence society and cultures. The minor provides the student with a working knowledge of the major ethical theories, the background necessary to understand some of the most important and persistent ethical problems in science and technology, and the experience of analyzing in detail some of these problems--including the positive and negative aspects of various proposed solutions.
The minor is designed to complement the student's major program, as well as to appeal to students wishing to undertake a portion of their General Education requirement in an organized cycle of course work bearing upon the theme of the ethical, social, and human responsibilities of science and technology. Courses listed all have substantive elements dealing with ethical issues within this context. Additionally, some have prerequisites; please consult the course descriptions section of the Bulletin or contact NEXA for this information.
Students interested in this minor should contact a NEXA adviser, in HUM 415 or by telephone at (415) 338-1302, when classes are in session.
On-line course descriptions are available.
| Core Requirements | Units | |
| NEXA 440 | Ethical Issues in Science and Technology | 3 |
| Ethics--units selected from: | 6 | |
| PHIL 383 | Ethics in Medicine | |
| PHIL 440 | Ethics at Work | |
| PHIL 450 | Ethics | |
| PHIL 470 | Environmental Ethics | |
| Total for core | 9 | |
|
Electives Units selected from the following: |
6 | |
| BECA 623 | Ethics and Responsibility in the Electronic Media | |
| BIOL 349 | Senior Integrative Seminar: Bioethics | |
| PHIL 365 | Science and Civilization | |
| Any of the Ethics courses not taken to fulfill core requirements | ||
| Units in NEXA chosen from the following: | 3 | |
| NEXA 330 | The Marxian Revolution | |
| NEXA 340 | The Nuclear Revolution | |
| NEXA 362 | Computers in the Arts and Humanities | |
| NEXA 380 | Cosmologies and Worldviews | |
| NEXA 389 | The Darwinian Revolution | |
| NEXA 390 | The Einsteinian Revolution | |
| NEXA 392 | Culture and Technology | |
| NEXA 397 | Communication Between Humans and Other Animals | |
| Additional units selected from the following: | 6 | |
| BIOL 318 | Our Endangered Planet | |
| BIOL 321 | Magic, Myths, and Medicine: A History of Medicine | |
| BIOL 330 | Human Sexuality | |
| BIOL 333 | The Genetic Revolution | |
| DAI 356 | History of Technology | |
| GEOG 421 | Future Environments | |
| GEOG 600 | Environmental Problems and Solutions | |
| GEOL 305 | Societal Problems of Energy | |
| I R/S S 520 | Modernization and Third World Countries | |
| RAZA 210 | Latino Health Care Perspectives | |
| SOC 476 | Medical Sociology | |
| SPCH 570 | Human Communication and Technology | |
| Total for minor | 24 | |