PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
STS 2400-01

As needed, other readings and course materials will be added below.

Here's a link to the article by Katherine Q. Seelye, "Study Says 2000 Election Missed Millions of Votes"

Professor Langdon Winner
Course meeting times and place: Monday and Thursday, 2:00 to 3:50 in
Room: (to be announced)
Course credit: This is a 4 credit hour course.
Office hours: Mondays 11:00 to 1:00 and by appointment in Sage 5707
email: winner@rpi.edu; Web Page: http://www.rpi.edu /~winner

DESCRIPTION
This course examines the interconnections between values, and law, seeking to understand how these affect and are affected by science and technology. We will consider a range of social, political and legal theories, critically weighing their reasoning and implications. We will also discuss a number of political and legal issues: global warming, stem cell research, human cloning, intellectual property in a global economy, toxic chemicals in the environment, professional ethics, and other topics of contemporary interest.

BOOKS: Please purchase these at the bookstore:

Aeschylus, 1: Oresteia (The Penn Greek Drama Series), Vol. 1
David Grene (Editor)

Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, Vintage Books.

Plato, The Last Days of Socrates

Theodore Goldfarb, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Environmental Issues, Dushkin (9th edition)

Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium

[Note: for each reading, please also read any introductions or postscripts.]

ADDITIONAL READINGS:

1. As a way to save costs, copies of some required readings are available in the plastic file box outside Mr. Winner's office. Make copies of these for your personal use and return them promptly. Sharing the costs of copying with other students is a good strategy.

2. A requirement of this course is that you regularly read a newspaper and follow issues about public policy that appear in the daily press. We will discuss issues of this kind briefly at the beginning of each session. The newspaper you choose is up to you — New York Times, Albany Times Union, Washington Post, etc., and reading a newspaper on the Web is just fine.

3. Some readings for this course— articles, texts of court decisions and the like -- are available on the World Wide Web. Please consult Mr. Winner's home page for URLs and other pointers.

COURSE WORK AND GRADES:

30 points = consistent attendance, class participation, including small group discussions
35 points = homework (3 points each week X 10 possible, plus 5 for leading a class discussion)
30 points = midterm exam
50 points = two take-home exam essays
________________________
145 points possible

Grades:
131 and above: A
116 to 130: B
102 to 115: C
87 to 101: D
below 87: F

Note: No late papers will be accepted. Don't ask.

                                                                        ***********************************************
The only thing necessary for the triumph of
   evil is for good men to do nothing.
                                                                       — Edmund Burke

POLICY ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have made responsible decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers must trust that the assignments which students turn in, are theirs. Acts which violate this trust undermine the educational process. The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities defines various forms of academic dishonesty and procedures for responding to them. All forms are violations of the trust between student and teacher. Students should familiarize themselves with this portion of the Handbook and should note that the penalties for plagiarism and other forms of cheating can be quite harsh. I ask you to sign all of the written work you turn in, and I take your signature to be a way of you declaring that the work is yours. [Note: Internet search engines make it ridiculously simple to track down plagiarism and recycled papers.]

At the same time, I strongly encourage you to talk to other students in the course frequently about the readings and ideas. When this happens you will learn more and the class will be more enjoyable. I also expect (and require) that homework, exams, and essays are entirely your own work.

Homework (due each Monday of the course). Homework will consist of no more than one page, single spaced, of your brief writing on (1) concepts in the course and (2) policy, legal and ethical issues related to the course as reflected in the news. Assignments will be supplied in class on Thursday.

Midterm exam: On Thursday, November 12 there will be an exam in class, covering all materials read and discussed to that point. The exam will consist of short answer questions and two brief essays. Sample questions will be distributed in advance as a guide to your studies.

Essays: A short essay, about 5 pages double-spaced, will be due on October 4. The assignment will be distributed in advance. The second paper, 8 to 12 pages double spaced, is due Dec. 9. It will be a discussion of an issue in law and public policy of your own choosing. A one page prospectus of this project is due on November 1, giving me time to respond to your topic and research plan.

Small group discussions: Much of the work in the class will take place in small groups. You will be assigned to a regular group of 5-6 students. Get to know them! Some class assignments may require working with your group outside of class.

Leadership in class discussion: For each session of the class I will ask (and fully expect) one or two people to help present the materials for the day. During the week when you do this task, you will not have to submit written homework and will receive full credit plus five points! You are free to shape this opportunity as you please, suggesting activities, provocations — and perhaps even additional short readings — for the class to experience.

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CLASS SESSIONS

Week 1:

Monday, August 27
Introduction and Overview
Small group discussion of: What is Law? Why Obey the Law?

Thurs., August 30:

1. Can Justice Be Impartial?

Readings: Bush v. Gore, Supreme Court Case, Read the opinion, Rehnquist's concurrence, and at least two of the dissenting opinions by Steven, Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer:
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-949.ZPC.html

Also read:
Katherine Q. Seelye, "Study Says 2000 Election Missed Millions of Votes", NY Times, July 17, 2001, searching in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe — News, General News:
http://www.lib.rpi.edu/resources/databases/fulltext.html
and
Alan Derschowitz, "Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000":
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/books/chapters/15-1stders.html?page wanted=pri%20nt

2. Law and Human Conflict: Views from Ancient Greece

Readings: Aeschylus I: Oresteia. For today read just the "Introduction" pp. 1-
31, which explains the context and content of this classic drama. Read the first two or three pages of "Agamemnon" to get a feeling for Aeschylus.

Week 2:

Monday, September 3 — No class. Labor Day holiday.

Thursday, September 6

1. The Origins of Law: From Retribution to Justice

Readings: Aeschylus, The Oresteia, read all three plays, "Agamemnon," "The Libation Bearers," and "The Eumenides"
brief summary of the world's most dysfunctional family: the fall of the House of Atreus: http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa110497.htm

Week 3

Monday, September 10

1. Law and political dissent
Readings: "The Apology" and "Crito" in The Last Days of Socrates

2. Law, Reason and Culture
Readings:
In Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, find:
"'Right Not to be Born' Upheld in France," New York Times, New York, N.Y.;
July 14, 2001 and (in same search) " Mother wins cash claim for son she would have aborted.," July 14, 2001The Times (London)
and:
George W. Bush, "Remarks by the President on Stem Cell Research,"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010809-2.html
and in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, find:
"Stem Cells 101," New York Times editorial, July 15, 2001
Week 3: Thursday, September 13

1. Visions of Political Order I: Democracy and Citizenship

Readings: Pericles, Aristotle, Politics:
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html
In Aristotle, read: Books One, Parts I, II and III; Book Three, Parts I, IV, V, VII, VIII; Book Four, Part XI
Also read, Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty" (in the files)

2. Contemporary Policy Debates

Readings: From Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Environmental Issues, pp. 62-79 — "Is the Precautionary Principle a Sound Basis for Environmental Policy?"

Week 4:

Monday, September 17

1. Visions of Political Order II: Fear and the Quest for Security

Readings: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/hobbes/leviathan.html
In Hobbes' Leviathan read: The First Part, Chapter VI, X, XI, XIII, and XIV; The Second Part, Chapter XVII, XVIII, XXI

2. State and Response to Environmental Crises
Reading: from Taking Sides, "Are Aggressive International Efforts Needed to Slow Global Warming?" pp. 338-364

Thursday, September 20

1. Moral Choices and Civil Disobedience
Reading: Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Thoreau/CivilDisobedience.html

2. Civil disobedience and environmental activism
On Lexis-Nexis search for:
"S.U.V.'s, Golf and Even Peas Join Growing Hit List of Eco-Vandals,"
By Sam Howe Verhovek, July 1, 2001, Sunday, Late Edition - Final,
Section 1; Page 1

Also visit the home pages of The Earth Liberation Front:
http://www.earthliberationfront.com/news/
and/or Earth First:
http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/
Read in particular "Free's Statement at His Sentencing"
http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/feature.cfm?ID=95&issue=v21n7

Week 5

Monday, September 24

1. Visions of Political Order III: Property and the State

Readings: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (selections in file)

2. Visions of Revolution: Property and the State
and Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "The Communist Manifesto"
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/176.html

Thursday, September 27

1. Case Study in Environmental Law and Policy

Readings: Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 1-146

Week 6

Monday, October 1

Readings: Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 149-251
and Taking Sides, "Hazardous Waste: Should the ‘Polluter Pays' Provision of Superfund Be Weakened?" pp. 238-255

Thursday, October 4

Your first essay is due in class today!

Readings: Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 251-290

Week 7

Tuesday (not Monday) October 8 (note the date change due to RPI scheduling)

Readings, Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 293-401
and: "Will Voluntary Action by Industry Reduce the Need for Future Environmental Regulation?" in Taking Sides, pp. 318-337.

Thursday, October 11
Readings: Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 405 to conclusion

Week 8

Monday, October 15

1. Local Environmental Protests and the Power of Global Corporations

Readings on the St. Lawrence Cement Company Greenport, NY project:

"Time for action, not shouting, in cement plant debate," editorial in Capital District Business Review
http://albany.bcentral.com/albany/stories/2001/07/30/editorial2.html
Answer to the editorial: "Friends of Hudson and cement-making" by Sam Pratt:
http://albany.bcentral.com/albany/stories/2001/08/06/editorial2.html

[Here are two sites maintained by opposing sides in the dispute]
(1) SLC: St. Lawrence Cement Group:
http://users.bestweb.net/~tbiggins/welcome.htm
On the SLC site, browse chapters 1 & 2 of the Greenport project "Draft Environmental Impact Statement" (you'll have to use the Adobe reader)

(2) Friends of Hudson:
http://friendsofhudson.com/default2.asp
On the Friends of Hudson site read "Top Ten Reasons," "Can You Trust SLC?" and, especially, "Application for Full Party Status" (also requires Adobe reader)

Thurs., October 18: Movie "A Civil Action". Ask yourself: How well does the film convey the content of Harr's book and the issues it raises? How well does Hollywood present the substance of issues in law and public policy?

Week 9

Monday, October 22

1. Is There a Right to Privacy? (The U.S. Constitution Doesn't Mention It)

Reading: John Arthur, "Privacy and the Constitution?" (in the files)

2. Technologies, the Net and Surveillance
Readings on Net monitoring and surveillance cameras and to be announced.

Thursday, October 25

1. Violence in the Law — Perspectives of a practitioner

Visitor to the Class, Robert Fullem, Attorney

Readings: Martin Luther King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (in files)
and Robert Cover, "Nomos and Narrative" (in the files)

Week 10

Monday, October 29

Today's class will consist of consultations on the final paper from 10:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:00 in Sage 5707. Please come by to talk briefly about your plans for the paper.

Week 10: Thursday, November 1

Your one page prospectus for the final paper is due today

1. Theories of Intellectual Property

Readings: Harry Hillman Chartrand, "Intellectual Property in the Global Village":
http://www.usask.ca/library/gic/v1n4/chartrand/chartrand.html
Bitlaw summaries on "Copyright Law" and "Patent Law" (browse both sections on the Bitlaw web page. Check out other sections, if you wish):
http://www.bitlaw.com/
Also read: Brian Martin, "Against Intellectual Property"
http://danny.oz.au/free-software/advocacy/against_IP.html

Week 11

Monday, November 5

1. Intellectual Property and Information Technology

Readings: Siva Vaidhyanathan, "Copyrights and Copywrongs"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/594462.asp?cp1=1
and U.S. Government brief on Napster and home copying:
http://www.cybercrime.gov/napsterbr.htm
Also read: "Copy Right and Globalization" (read just the opening comments by Richard Stallman, more of the debate, if you desire):
http://web.mit.edu/m-i-t/forums/copyright/transcript.html

Thursday, November 8

1. Intellectual Property and Biotechnology

Readings: "Biotech Patent Fights," by Jennifer Van Brunt
http://www.signalsmag.com/signalsmag.nsf/0/3366125331D79F678825695B0058EFAF

(If the above doesn't work, search Google for title and author. It's there, but may require some work.)

Also: "Stolen Harvest," Corporate Watch interview with Vandana Shiva
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/biotech/featured/2000/vshiva.html

Also listen to NPR report, "A Bean of A Different Color," by Sandy Tolan (about biological piracy and patents): Go to the web page and hit "listen"
http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/features/2001/010609.tolan.html

Week 12

Monday, November 12 — Mid-term exam in class. Please bring exam bluebooks (available in the bookstore).

Thursday, November 15

1. Technology and the Future of Humanity?

Reading: Bill Joy, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us?"
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html

2. Should the Cloning of Humans be Legal?
[Readings on cloning to be announced.]

Week 13

Monday, November 19

1. Personal ethics and public life

Reading: The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium

Thursday, November 22

1. The concept of responsibility
Reading: Ethics for the New Millennium

Week 14

Monday, November 26
1. Politics, law and survival
Film in class — "Sunshine"

Thursday, November 29

1. The Domestic Uses of Genetically Modified Poultry

Readings: None. Students conduct on-site culinary tests.

Week 15

December 1

Reading: Ethics for the New Millennium

December 6

Wrap up session: What have we learned? Quo vadis?

Final paper is due in class.

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Note: Because music helps brighten the day, many sessions of the class will begin and end with a musical interlude about law, values, and public policy (broadly interpreted), e.g., Howlin' Wolf's "Commit A Crime", Arnold Schoenberg's "Moses and Aaron", Bobby Fuller's, "I Fought the Law." I invite students to bring cassettes or CDs with selections relevant to our discussions. Please let me know in advance what you plan to play for us.