Science as a social practice

PhD student Marion Boulicault believes in an interdisciplinary path forward for science, feminism, and philosophy. Marion Boulicault hates making decisions. "I want to do everything," she says, "and one of the effects of making a choice is that other choices are closed off." Alternately drawn to work in environmental science, public policy, and philosophy, she has always felt compelled to bring her interests together. So when she first began her doctorate in philosophy at MIT, Boulicault assumed that choosing such an abstract field meant letting go of the pragmatic, on-the-ground impact of a career in public service. But after taking STS.260 (Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society), a class that analyzes science as a human activity, she found the two didn't have to be mutually exclusive. She petitioned her department to allow her to take courses in the Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) for credit, and has been dismantling disciplinary boundaries ever since. Working at the interface of philosophy and science Through her HASTS interdisciplinary coursework, Boulicault first encountered a field that intrigued her: the feminist philosophy of science.