Introduction to the sociology of science: the ways and forms of representation, production and communication of scientific knowledge

Aim of the course is analyzing relationships between different social contexts and scientific production. The social genesis of scientific knowledge will be investigated through a long-term socio-historical approach. Particular attention will be paid to the ways and forms in which science is represented, produced and communicated. The analysis will take into account the changed relationship between man and nature and the inextricable dialectic that connects these two spheres. Through relevant studies on this topic, it will be possible to offer more insights especially related to different universes of meaning in which this relationship takes place. Scientific knowledge will therefore be considered as a particular sector of the broader process of social construction of reality, in which cultural, religious, economic and technological variables play crucial roles. The aim is to provide to PhD students, through a long-term theoretical reconstruction, conceptual tools useful for understanding the great changes that have affected the contemporary world - in an era in which science has a very important place.