The Danz Courses in the Humanities are made possible by the generous financial support of Fredric Danz, who attended the University of Washington and is a longtime benefactor of the humanities.

Archive of Past Danz Courses

Now in their eighth year, the Danz Courses in the Humanities provide unique opportunities for students to engage in challenging cross-disciplinary work. In 2008-2009 the Danz courses are guided by the rubric Science, Justice, Knowledge, encouraging undergraduates from all areas of study to engage questions of science, technology, and society. Students will explore the interplay between fundamental beliefs and values of science and the humanities as they are manifest in today’s world. To achieve the goal of bringing together ideas from the sciences and the humanities at a meaningful level, each class is team taught by faculty from departments across the UW.

Maynard Olson (Medicine and Genome Science)
 Phillip Thurtle (Comparative History of Ideas)

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Undergraduate Advising Podcast

Ever since the scientific revolution, science has been challenged by individuals and
institutions whose worldviews and practical interests have been threatened by its
ascendance. As a result, science occupies a paradoxical position in contemporary
society. On the one hand, the sciences enjoy high prestige and receive significant
financial support from governments and philanthropies. On the other hand,
scientists often view themselves as under siege. We will examine the roots of this
paradox from diverse perspectives, including those rooted in philosophy, religion,
politics, and environmentalism. Case studies will include postmodern critiques of
the possibility of acquiring objective knowledge, the controversy over teaching
intelligent design in public schools, the backlash against genetically modified
foods, and the politicization of scientific uncertainty in areas such as global
warming and AIDS prevention.

Science and its Critics is designed to accommodate students of any background,
from the committed physics or engineering major to students whose primary
interests are directed toward art, literature, philosophy, history, language, or the
social sciences.
The

 Stephen Gardiner (Philosophy)
 Mike Wallace (Atmospheric Sciences)

Human-induced climate change is one of the most important international problems facing the world today. Yet our scientific understanding of the impacts of global warming is just emerging. Projections of how much the Earth will warm under various energy use scenarios are fraught with uncertainty. Far-reaching decisions on energy policy are being made on the basis of imperfect scientific knowledge. This course will explore a variety of scientific and philosophical questions: How serious is climate change relative to other pressing global problems? What are the scientific uncertainties around global warming? What can economic analysis tell us— or not tell us—about such long-term problems as climate change? How might we address global intergenerational issues such as climate change in a just way?

 Matthew Sparke (Geography)
 Janelle Taylor (Anthropology)

To understand and address illness in contemporary American society, we tend to look first to the body of the afflicted individual. Yet if we look instead to global patterns of power and inequality, we can see how injustice causes people to sicken, to suffer, and to die. Drawing upon ethical, anthropological, and political economic studies of global health, this course will reveal how health relates to poverty, war, the pharmaceutical industry, and market-led development. We will consider provocative questions: What do we—as citizens of a wealthy and powerful country, and as citizens of the world more generally—need to understand about the connections between power and health? What are our responsibilities in addressing these concerns? What difficulties arise in trying to implement solutions to global health disparities? What are some examples of success?