printer friendly pageESF 10A: Education as Self-Fashioning: Unintended Consequences
Unintended consequences are outcomes that are not the ones foreseen and/or intended by a new product, action or decision. Some unintended outcomes are very surprising, and would have been hard to predict. Others seem completely logical in hindsight and leaves people wondering why they were not anticipated. For instance, when the first biofuel mandates were imposed in the EU, little did policy makers realize it would lead to a strong rise in palm oil production, which in turn led to tropical deforestation, undoing any of the possible positive impacts of increased biofuels use. In hindsight it is easy to see this potential negative impact, yet at the time the decision was made the EU leadership was blind to it. Not all unintended consequences are negative. Aspirin, for example, was developed to relieve pain, but was found to also be an anticoagulant that can lower the risk of heart attacks. As another example, the setting up of large hunting reserves for nobility in the medieval period preserved green areas, which later could be converted to large parks.
Last offered: Autumn 2020
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-SI, Writing 1
ESF 11: Education as Self-Fashioning: The Democratic Citizen
A democracy seeks to aggregate the diverse and conflicting views of individuals into collective policy. How does this work, in theory and in practice? How have individuals thought about this process and their own roles within it, and how has that reflection shaped their lives as democratic citizens? In this course, we will study the history of democracy and democratic thought, from Ancient Greece and Rome to the modern world. We will consider how thinkers ancient and modern sought to fashion themselves into democratic citizens, and we will compare these ideals to the realities of democratic government in practice. Through a variety of philosophical and empirical readings, we will explore the fundamental challenges of democracy and discuss how we see them playing out today.
Last offered: Autumn 2019
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-SI, Writing 1
ESF 11A: Education as Self-Fashioning: The Democratic Citizen
A democracy seeks to aggregate the diverse and conflicting views of individuals into collective policy. How does this work, in theory and in practice? How have individuals thought about this process and their own roles within it, and how has that reflection shaped their lives as democratic citizens? In this course, we will study the history of democracy and democratic thought, from Ancient Greece and Rome to the modern world. We will consider how thinkers ancient and modern sought to fashion themselves into democratic citizens, and we will compare these ideals to the realities of democratic government in practice. Through a variety of philosophical and empirical readings, we will explore the fundamental challenges of democracy and discuss how we see them playing out today.
Last offered: Autumn 2019
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-SI, Writing 1
ESF 13: Education as Self-Fashioning: Rebellious Minds
The struggle to know began long before you entered the university. The university as an institution has its origins in the late Middle Ages; it has been reinvented repeatedly as our ideas about education have changed. People have been rebelling against how institutions define learning (and for whom) ever since. This course introduces you to some of the most thoughtful and interesting reflections on the nature and purpose of an education, on knowledge and ignorance, at the birth of the modern world. Understanding the quest to discover the mind and to embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor is a starting point to reflect on the goals of your own education, as an engaged intellectual citizen of the world.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI, Writing 1
Instructors:
Findlen, P. (PI)
;
Mediratta, S. (PI)
ESF 13A: Education as Self-Fashioning: Rebellious Minds
The struggle to know began long before you entered the university. The university as an institution has its origins in the late Middle Ages; it has been reinvented repeatedly as our ideas about education have changed. People have been rebelling against how institutions define learning (and for whom) ever since. This course introduces you to some of the most thoughtful and interesting reflections on the nature and purpose of an education, on knowledge and ignorance, at the birth of the modern world. Understanding the quest to discover the mind and to embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor is a starting point to reflect on the goals of your own education, as an engaged intellectual citizen of the world.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI, Writing 1
Instructors:
Findlen, P. (PI)
;
Mediratta, S. (PI)
ESF 20: Science as Culture
When have you been made aware of how comfortable you are in your cultural views about the world? It often takes traveling abroad, being forced to speak and think in a new language, or encountering beliefs quite different from our own, to shake up our passive acceptance about "how things work." In this course we will not actually travel to any distant lands. Instead, we will venture into the worlds of scientists to explore how cultural norms shape scientific understandings. We will see how the historical conditions and political climates where discoveries happen can influence how scientific facts come to cohere. Why, for example, was sickle cell anemia posited as a 'black' disease that was seen as genetic proof of African ancestry in the 20th century United States, but not in India where it is also prevalent? In another context, how did the cultural revolution in China and its purge of certain types of scientists create the conditions for cybernetic experts and aerospace engineers (rath
more »
When have you been made aware of how comfortable you are in your cultural views about the world? It often takes traveling abroad, being forced to speak and think in a new language, or encountering beliefs quite different from our own, to shake up our passive acceptance about "how things work." In this course we will not actually travel to any distant lands. Instead, we will venture into the worlds of scientists to explore how cultural norms shape scientific understandings. We will see how the historical conditions and political climates where discoveries happen can influence how scientific facts come to cohere. Why, for example, was sickle cell anemia posited as a 'black' disease that was seen as genetic proof of African ancestry in the 20th century United States, but not in India where it is also prevalent? In another context, how did the cultural revolution in China and its purge of certain types of scientists create the conditions for cybernetic experts and aerospace engineers (rather than demographers) to largely shape the country's one-child policy? And more recently, how have instances of recorded climate change and environmental degradation drawn on human-centric scientific interventions? And when have more species inclusive methods been offered by global indigenous groups who might help us rethink planetary sustainability?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI, Writing 1
Instructors:
Formato, M. (PI)
;
Fullwiley, D. (PI)
ESF 20A: Science as Culture
When have you been made aware of how comfortable you are in your cultural views about the world? It often takes traveling abroad, being forced to speak and think in a new language, or encountering beliefs quite different from our own, to shake up our passive acceptance about "how things work." In this course we will not actually travel to any distant lands. Instead, we will venture into the worlds of scientists to explore how cultural norms shape scientific understandings. We will see how the historical conditions and political climates where discoveries happen can influence how scientific facts come to cohere. Why, for example, was sickle cell anemia posited as a 'black' disease that was seen as genetic proof of African ancestry in the 20th century United States, but not in India where it is also prevalent? In another context, how did the cultural revolution in China and its purge of certain types of scientists create the conditions for cybernetic experts and aerospace engineers (rath
more »
When have you been made aware of how comfortable you are in your cultural views about the world? It often takes traveling abroad, being forced to speak and think in a new language, or encountering beliefs quite different from our own, to shake up our passive acceptance about "how things work." In this course we will not actually travel to any distant lands. Instead, we will venture into the worlds of scientists to explore how cultural norms shape scientific understandings. We will see how the historical conditions and political climates where discoveries happen can influence how scientific facts come to cohere. Why, for example, was sickle cell anemia posited as a 'black' disease that was seen as genetic proof of African ancestry in the 20th century United States, but not in India where it is also prevalent? In another context, how did the cultural revolution in China and its purge of certain types of scientists create the conditions for cybernetic experts and aerospace engineers (rather than demographers) to largely shape the country's one-child policy? And more recently, how have instances of recorded climate change and environmental degradation drawn on human-centric scientific interventions? And when have more species inclusive methods been offered by global indigenous groups who might help us rethink planetary sustainability?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI, Writing 1
Instructors:
Formato, M. (PI)
;
Fullwiley, D. (PI)
ESF 25: Development and Dispossession
Many students come to Stanford hoping to "make the world a better place," but what does that mean? Where do our ideas about human development, progress and improvement come from? This class asks you to consider this goal from a global historical perspective, including but not limited to the Middle East. How do ideas about human progress intersect with the development of nonhuman landscapes, built environments and infrastructure? What are the intended and unintended consequences of the projects and plans these ideas inspire? In particular, we will examine how projects aimed at improvement have legitimated and shaped colonial expansion, large-scale infrastructure schemes, and population exchanges, alongside human experiences of dispossession, loss, and exile.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Barakat, N. (PI)
;
Moyer, G. (PI)
ESS 86N: The Most Rational People in the World
Humans, broadly construed, emerged as bipedal apes in the African mixed savanna-woodlands approximately two million years ago. From humble beginnings, humans have gone on to be become the ecologically dominant species in most biomes and grown to a global population in excess of seven billion. This dominance arises from a combination of features of the human organism including its extreme degree of behavioral flexibility and flexible social organization. The prima facie evidence of human evolutionary and ecological success raises a paradox with respect to recent work in economics and psychology which increasingly argues for pervasive irrationality in human decision-making in a wide array of behavioral contexts. How is it possible for an organism with such seemingly flawed software supporting decision-making to become the globally dominant species? We will use this contradiction as the launching point for understanding what rationality means in a broad ecological and cross-cultural context. What do we mean by `rationality¿? How do different disciplines conceive of rationality in different ways? Is there such a thing as a rationality that transcends cultural differences or is the very idea of rationality a cultural construction that is used to justify imperialism and other modes of paternalism? Are there systematic factors that promote or impede rational decision-making? The seminar will provide a gentle introduction to the formal approaches of decision theory which we will apply to an unusual array of topics centered on the subsistence and reproductive decisions of hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, pastoralists, and agrarian peasants, in short, people living in face-to-face, subsistence societies. In addition to doing reading from a broad array of social and natural science disciplines around the topic of rationality, students will regularly engage in exercises to assess their own approaches to decision-making.
Last offered: Summer 2019
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
ESS 106: World Food Economy (EARTHSYS 106, EARTHSYS 206, ECON 106, ECON 206, ESS 206)
The World Food Economy is a survey course that covers the economic and political dimensions of food production, consumption, and trade. The course focuses on food markets and food policy within a global context. It is comprised of three major sections: structural features (agronomic, technological, and economic) that determine the nature of domestic food systems; the role of domestic food and agricultural policies in international markets; and the integrating forces of international research, trade, and food aid in the world food economy. This 5-unit course entails a substantial group modeling project that is required for all students. Enrollment is by application only. The application is found at
https://economics.stanford.edu/undergraduate/forms. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and priority will be given to upper-level undergraduates who need the course for their major, and to graduate students pursuing work directly related to the course. The application submission period will close on March 15
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Naylor, R. (PI)
;
Varkey, K. (TA)
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