Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The questions examined are central to the ongoing debate in science, which encompasses two general positions when answering the question, what is science? One position is the positivist tradition which views science as objective and value-free, while the other more structural tradition views science as value-laden. It was the latter position we adopted in handling the material. / 2031-01-01

This discussion of chaos theory is concerned with two major issues. On the one hand, I explore what kind of knowledge is linked to chaos theory, and more specifically how as a science it informs the cultural discourses created by postindustrial societies. On the other hand, I probe chaos theory's potential as a model for challenging the existing conception of our world within the prevailing epistemologies of order and predictability. Both of these issues are addressed with in mind the broader framework and question concerning social relations, especially to the extent that those relations, in their spatial dimension, have become an object of scientific discourse. My approach to chaos theory is purposefully eclectic, conjoining the scientific with the social and the political. I believe that chaos theory points to a dynamic, intertextual, and multidimensional universe, and therefore, my interest lies in these connections, in bridging the various elements working together to create our contemporary, postmodern world. Science creates theories and images of nature that have been used to subordinate and control segments of the population through theories of race and sexuality. Thus, to recognize the existence of complexity and instability is to give away powerful conceptual means of political and social control, a strategy in which Western science has been an active participant.

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A cross-disciplinary literature review returns conflicting renditions on the nature of science, science’s place in society, and the public understanding of science. The phenomenon of science appears as many things to many people—a situation consistent with a phenomenographic non-dualist ontology that accepts a single, but variably experienced, real world. This study begins a process for comprehensively charting the landscape of Public Understanding of Science. In foregrounding the reflexive interplay of science and society, the resultant typography of science could, in turn, inform a mindful evolution of science curricula. In this study, a phenomenographic analysis of Public Understanding of Science journal article, “Fantastically reasonable: Ambivalence in the representation of science and technology in super-hero comics” (Locke, 2005) illustrates the phenomenographic process and provides a model for the application of phenomenographic methodology to systematically chart the nature of science as publicly experienced and understood. / x, 225 leaves ; 29 cm. --

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Science in the 1970s and 1980s has come to be linked closely to the unsettling matter of human rights and international accountability. Andrei Sakharov contributed to this development by relying very substantially on his colleagues in North America and Western Europe in his battles to free Soviet society. He understood---as they themselves sometimes did not---to what degree the prestige of the Soviet Union's own military-industrial complex depended not only on the West's concrete achievements in science and technology, but on the political positions its scientists adopted in the Cold War. Hence this particular study, the purpose of which is to determine the historical significance of Sakharov's drive against the Soviet regime in the light of the reaction of his scientific colleagues in the West. / Before 1968, Sakharov was known to a handful of Western scientists as the father of the Soviet H-Bomb, which partly accounts for the fact that many had doubts not only on the genuine nature of his reflections, issued that year, but on Sakharov's very existence. His deportation to Gorky in January 1980 undermined the hawks and sceptics in the West, and turned him into a global figure, characterized by original thinking, self-denial, legitimacy of purpose and undisputed moral authority. It did so on the basis of liberal philosophical principles with which most Western scientists found themselves in accord. Having reached an unprecedented level, their protests would play a crucial role in Sakharov's release by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. / This, however, came at a price---the boycott of scientific exchanges with the Soviet Union which was the ultimate gesture of solidarity with the cause Sakharov represented. For many scientists this was a soul-wrenching choice, made in the face of persuasive arguments for maintaining open relations with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless, due to its exceptional symbolism, Sakharov's exile even legitimized the concept of boycott for the more important national scientific societies in the West---which only shortly prior to 1980 were still reluctant to condone any sign even of public protest. / This study makes use of previously unexplored material such as that of the Committee of Scientists for Sakharov, Orlov, and Shcharansky at the University of California in Berkeley. It also relies heavily on accounts by the latter and other scientists in the United States, France and Great Britain who took part in some of the events described, among them legendary figures such as Edward Teller and Henri Cartan. In reminding us of the ordeal once Buffered by Galileo and J. R. Oppenheimer, this dissertation concludes with the untimely death of Sakharov, which defined the future course of perestroika and dealt a blow to the cause of human rights.

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The interface between science and technology and the society has led to the notion of science as a social contract, in which scientists, politicians and the general public are called upon to acknowledge the urgency of using all fields of science and technology to address human needs. Science and technology is used as an instrument of change for a better quality of life and sustainable development for the present and future generations. The object of science and technology policies is to achieve specific development objectives. It is thus imperative to adopt science and technology policies that support the national development strategies. It is also important to set up science and technology structures to facilitate the proper functioning of the science and technology system. Competitiveness constitutes one of the most important challenges facing Southern Africa today. With globalization and the expansion of world trade competition, it has become more difficult for Southern African enterprise to keep up with the pace of technological developments. In the light of these challenges, most countries are driving towards the adoption of a national system of innovation (NSI) to encourage the interaction of policies, research and development, human resource development and industrial development. The study is induced by major science and technology set backs, which are common across countries in Southern Africa namely, poor co-ordination mechanisms, poor science and technology infrastructure and a lack of funding. The study provides background information on the theoretical framework of the concept of NSI. For the research method, a qualitative research design was followed with content analysis of existing documents. Published documents were used to provide information on the three countries, which were used as case studies namely Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. The main focus of the case studies is on the following: an outline of the policy goals of each of the three countries, the concept of the NSI as it is expressed by each of the countries and the science and technology structures in the three countries. The study identified poor co-ordination of science and technology activities as the key problem of all three countries. The structures differ slightly and in particular, the placement of the management of science and technology determines the efficiency of the system. The South African NSI is well established as its network is strengthened by the National Advisory Council for Innovation and the National Research and Development Strategy. Next is Namibia which has a system in place, while Malawi is still at the initial stages of setting up its NS!. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die koppelvlak tussen wetenskap en tegnologie en die gemeenskap het gelei tot die siening van wetenskap as 'n sosiale kontrak waarin wetenskaplikes, politici en die algemene publiek versoek word om te erken dat dit nodig geword het om alle vertakkinge van wetenskap en tegnologie aan te wend om menslike nood te verlig. Wetenskap en tegnologie word gebruik as 'n instrument om verandering teweeg te bring ter bevordering van 'n beter kwaliteit lewe en volhoubare ontwikkeling vir die huidige en toekomstige generasies. Die doel van 'n wetenskap en tegnologiebeleid is om spesifieke ontwikkelingsdoelstellings te verwesenlik. Dit is dus noodsaaklik dat hierdie beleid in ooreenstemming met die nasionale onwikkelingsstrategieë ontwerp moet word. Dit is ook belangrik om wetenskap en tegnologiestrukture in plek te stel wat die effektiewe funksionering van die sisteem kan vergemaklik. Mededingbaarheid is een van die grootste uitdagings wat Suider Afrika tans in die gesig staar. Met globalisering en die uitbreiding van wêreldhandel het dit moeiliker geword vir Suider Afrikaanse ondernemings om in pas te bly met tegnologiese ontwikkeling. In die lig van hierdie uitdagings stuur die meeste lande in die rigting van 'n Nasionale Sisteem vir Innovasie (NSI) om interaksie tussen beleid, navorsing en ontwikkeling, menslike hulpbronontwikkeling en industriële ontwikkeling aan te moedig. Wat aanleiding gegee het tot hierdie studie is die wetenskap en tegnologieprobleme wat algemeen voorkom in die lande in Suider Afrikaanse, naamlik onvoldoende koërdinasie meganismes, swak wetenskap en tegnologie-infrastruktuur en 'n gebrek aan fondse. 'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp is gevolg waarin analise van die inhoud van dokumente as navorsingsmetode gebruik is. Die studie verskaf agtergrond-inligting oor die teoretiese raamwerk van die NSI konsep. Gepubliseerde dokumente is gebruik om inligting te verskaf oor die drie lande wat as gevallestudies dien, naamlik Malawi, Namibië en Suid-Afrika. Die hooffokus van die gevallestudies is soos volg: 'n raamwerk van die beleidsdoelstellings van elk van die drie lande, die konsep NSI soos toegepas deur elkeen en die wetenskap en tegnologiestrukture in elk van die betrokke lande. Die studie het swak koërdinasie van wetenskap en tegnologie-aktiwiteite as die sleutelprobleem van aldrie lande geïdentifiseer. Die strukture verskil effens van mekaar en veral die plasing van die wetenskap en tegnologiebestuur bepaal die effektiwiteit van die stelsel. Die Suid Afrikaanse NSI is goed gevestig omdat sy netwerk versterk word deur die Nasionale Adviesraad vir Innovasie en die Nasionale Navorsing- en Ontwikkelingstrategie. Volgende is Namibië wat 'n sisteem in plek het, terwyl Malawi nog maar in die beginstadium is van die daarstelling van hul NSI.