SI0249 SEMINAR FOUR

Questions

Introduction:1. Summarise the three key features that underpin the relationship between biology and the human sciences today?2. What does Rose mean by saying personhood is becoming increasingly somatic?

Biology and sociology3. In what ways has sociology been haunted by biology?4. What have been the problems of integrating biological concepts into social theory? What reason does Rose give for disparaging liberation biology?

Open biology, open vitality5. In what ways does Rose suggest that biology can inform the human and social sciences?6. In what sense is he suspicious of social neuroscience?

Genomics beyond the gene7. What has recent research discovered about the human genome and how might this relate to social, cultural and environmental factors?8. What vision of open biology is Rose proposing? How might it revitalise sociology?

Beyond vitalism?9. Why should we be critical of a mechanistic view of biology?10. How is vitalism different?

Conclusion11. What kind of affirmative relationship does Rose propose between the life sciences and the human sciences?