HPSC0070

Eugenics in Science and Culture

This module investigates eugenics as a history of science and technology operating in cultures around the world. It considers eugenics as a history of people creating, interpreting, rejecting, and suffering from decisions grounded in scientific (and pseudo-scientific) practices supported by eugenics campaigners. Importantly, this module presents eugenics through the intersection of categories such as gender, race/ethnicity, ableism, class, nationalism, and political philosophy. Eugenics is a subject with strong local (UCL) connections, and it is a subject with diverse global involvements and impacts. Ultimately, this module explores the history and legacy of eugenics to better answer far-reaching questions about the role of science in policy development, about the power of science in public understanding, and about rival approaches to expertise in the knowledge economy.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this module students should be able to:

• Explain the information revolution, and a little of the recent history of information and communication technologies, with a particular focus on its ethical and societal significance.
• Understand some of the conceptual difficulties in defining information, in spite of its extensive usefulness in multiple areas of science and technology.
• Understand and explain some of the philosophical issues caused by the rapid technological change of the information revolution, such as how we should conceive of personal identity, society and knowledge.
• Construct clear and rigorous arguments concerning these topics.

UCL Module Catalogue: Eugenics in Science and Culture (HPSC0070)