Objectivity in Science and the Liberal Arts Core

When I saw this tweet, I thought it was really important and something worth putting on the blog. It reminded me of the chapter we read on the history of women's bodies. People assume that medicine and science are logical, unbiased disciplines, but in reality doctors and scientists are subject to the same societal structures and systems of oppression as everyone else. Doctors and scientists are products of a world that has systemically promoted sexist and racist ideas and practices, and pretending otherwise is extremely dangerous. It's important not to let these parts of our society off the hook. Unfortunately, when people in the humanities or social sciences make this critique of science or medicine, the critique is often ignored despite its validity.

The women's bodies chapter as well as Pushed relate this idea to medical practices, both historically and contemporarily, in interesting ways. For instance, the gendered aspects of maternity care as outlined in Pushed were not accidental. As technology progressed and the medical field became more established and powerful (and it was always male controlled since men had the access to education and research) - it pushed its way into childbirth. Midwives lost their influence to doctors because most people did not question medicine. The word of doctors and scientists is seen as unbiased fact by many people and this should definitely be questioned more.

Many students complain about Manhattan College's extensive liberal arts core and the fact that even business/engineering students have to take multiple liberal arts classes. I'd argue that more schools should have similar requirements, so that these students have historical context for what they are taught about science/economics/etc. In fact, I believe it would be helpful if the requirements went beyond just the general 150 classes, since those survey courses aren't taken seriously by many students. The classes that truly changed my perspective and taught me entirely new things were the Sociology/Psychology/History/Religion classes that I took either for Women and Gender Studies or for Global/Non-Western credit. "Niche" classes like my Catholic labor studies course, Race and Resistance, Genocide and Racism, and Psych of Women were the most important, yet those are only taken by the liberal arts students who seek them out. That should change, so that students who major in biology, pre-med, finance, and so on have an understanding of the complicated and often hidden histories behind their fields that they might otherwise never be exposed to.