Topic #1Over the course of the last 500 years, the development of modern science has transformed our vision of nature and advanced a distinct method of inquiry which is often held to be the benchmark of all rational knowledge. In an essay which shows attention to historical detail, choose key milestones in the development of modern science and show how they exemplify the way that scientific knowledge and practice emerged as part of a historical process. When drafting your essay reflect especially on the following points: Why, historically speaking, do you believe people came to accept the value of science both as a conception of nature and as a means of investigation? Also, it is often thought that the advent of modern science has given human beings unprecedented command over their destiny. To what extent do you think it makes sense to say that science and technology in the modern world are gradually liberating human beings from their natural condition? Topic #2In the modern world, doing science has become a vast organizational, institutional, and technical enterprise, which, by the second half of the twentieth century, some scientists started labeling Big Science, a term meant to describe a wasteful and counterproductive approach to scientific investigation. Nevertheless, one can make a strong argument that from the beginning science has been a communal endeavor, relying on organizations and institutions effectively to pursue and validate research.
