Seminar on science and society

Duration

30h SEM

Number of credits

Lecturer

Laurence Bouquiaux, Frédéric Claisse, Bruno Frère, Kim Hendrickx

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The seminar will be organised during the second period of the year . Laurence Bouquiaux, Frederic Claisse, Bruno Frère and Kim Hendrickx are in charge of this seminar. The aim of the seminar is to familiarize students with questions and issues that concern the place of scientific knowledge in contemporary societies. The 2025-2026 seminar will be dedicated to exploring the notion of nature (see below for more information).


The course is given in the form of seminars where the sessions are presented by the students themselves. The aim is not to help students memorise a subject but to encourage them to take up a question and prepare a presentation. This preparation is supervised by the teachers.

Consequently, there are no exams, and marks are awarded on the basis of an assessment by the teachers of the preparation and presentation of the presentation. Each group submits a written mark at the end of the period summarising its presentation.



THEME FOR THE YEAR 2025-2026




The theme of the year will be nature. While the idea of "nature" may at first seem self-evident, it is in fact a concept that is widely debated in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, science, and even law. Its meaning and connotations have constantly evolved since Antiquity.

To begin with, it's worth noting that "nature" has traditionally been opposed to "culture." This opposition, which underlies the disciplinary distinction between the social sciences and humanities on one hand, and the natural sciences on the other, may seem firmly established, but it actually raises a number of questions: How, exactly, can we distinguish between facts of nature and facts of culture? Does such a distinction still make sense today, in the era of the Anthropocene? Is it a universal distinction, or one specific to the Western world? What could we gain-or lose-if we abandon it? Should we reject it on the grounds that it has mostly allowed certain humans (on the side of culture) to exploit what they placed on that very side of nature? Or, on the contrary, should we preserve it in order to identify what, in a time of climate change, needs to be protected?

Nature also calls for another distinction-between what is natural and what is not, or even what is "unnatural." Here, nature carries a moral and even political charge. How has this charge evolved over the course of history? And what about in our contemporary societies?

Other questions may also be explored, such as: Which are the political implications of discourses on nature (ecology, sustainable development, extractivism, colonialism, etc.)? How do the social sciences contribute to the contemporary redefinition of nature (Anthropocene, post-nature, multiple ontologies)?


 

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The seminar is based on an inverted classroom approach: students are divided into groups and each group prepares a presentation with the help of a teacher. The students are assessed on the basis of their presentation, so there is no final exam.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

A previous knowledge of basic epistemology or philosophy of sciences is higly recommended.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Students will be in charge of organizing seminars on the basis of lectures or readings.

The main requirement on which students will be assessed is their ability to explain to the whole class what they have understood from the texts they have worked on. The clarity, pedagogical nature and liveliness of your presentation will be decisive. It is therefore not a question of reading or reciting summaries of what you have read, but of making your summary interesting by using a powerpoint (or an equivalent device).

 

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

The seminar will be held in the second quarter. A total of six sessions are planned, but this number may change depending on the number of registrations.

ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY

As there is no final exam (see above), attendance at the sessions is compulsory. In concrete terms, except in duly justified cases, students who are absent from more than two sessions will not receive a mark.

Overlapping courses do not provide a justification for absence: if you have another course with compulsory attendance at the same time as the 'science and society' seminar, you must choose which of the two you wish to take.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Further information:

documents will be available

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam

- Remote

oral exam

Continuous assessment


Further information:

The evaluation will be based on the quality of the work done during workshops or seminars : quality of presentation, participation to to the discussion. Each student will have to produce a short synthesis document.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

The first seminar session will take place on Thursday 6 February.

This first session will be devoted to a presentation by each of the co-teachers of the sub-theme they wish to study with the students. The various working groups will be set up on the same day. It is therefore essential that all registered students attend this first session.

We will then answer any practical questions you may have.

At this first session, we will also present students with a portfolio of readings on the theme of evolution, which they will be required to read for the following session.

The second session of the seminar is scheduled for Thursday 20 February. It will be devoted to a discussion based on the texts in the reading portfolio. To fuel this discussion, each student must prepare (at least) one question or comment on one of the texts.

The rest of the timetable will be set at the session on 6 February.

Contacts

See French Version for adresses of teachers.

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online