Introduction to STS

• Technology


  The application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems. It came from the Greek word "techne", which means "art, kill, or cunning of hand."
• Society


  A group of people with common interests, traditions, purpose, and/or activity. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions. A society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis.
• Science generally means knowing or possessing knowledge that is sufficiently general, clearly conceptualized, carefully reasons, systematically organized, critically examined, and empirically tested.
• Interconnections of Science, Technology, and Society

  • Science aims to improve society
  • Society benefits from technology because it makes life easier
  • Technology demands from science for improvement
  • Science gives us insight into what kind of technologies we could potentially create
  • Technology alters how we can behave
  • Society drives technological innovations and scientific inquiry
  • Science explores for the purpose of knowing, while technology explores for the purpose of making something useful from that knowledge
• Emergence of STS as a new field of study

  • STS' roots lie in the interwar period and continue into the start of the Cold War
  • The best-known product of this interest was Thomas Kuhn's classic 1962 study, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
  • STS is originally offered only at the UP Diliman but in 2013, CHED adopted the course and included STS in the list of GE subject offerings
  • STS is an interdisciplinary field that studies the conditions under which the production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur
  • Science, Technology, and Society is the study of how society, politics, and culture affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn, affect society, politics, and culture
• Science

  from the Latin “scientia”, which means “knowledge”. It refers to the systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe behaves through observation, experimentation, or both
• Science is an empirical field


  • From the Greek word empeirikos meaning “experienced”
  • Science as an empirical field simply means that it is a body of knowledge built up out of the elements of experience.
  • You need to use your senses-seeing, hearing, tasting touching, and smelling. But most importantly, we use our common sense above all.
  • Science is not science without proof.
• Science is a systematic field


  • It follows specific steps to reach a certain conclusion.
  • At its core lies a problem-solving approach called the scientific method.
• Science cover general truths and facts

  • Proper application of the scientific method allows us to get to the truth through careful observation and rigorous testing and re-examination of data.
  • Without these steps and just simple concluding things, we will all be left without nothing but empty claims
• Science is a total societal enterprise


  • Science achieves social impact alongside a financial return. It is a balance between profit and social value.
  • Science should not be seen as just for the advancement of knowledge, nor as a mere economic activity, providing products and services to generate income.
  • Science is mainly there to develop relevant, effective, and accessible solutions according to the needs of the community.
• Science generally means knowing or possessing knowledge that is sufficiently general, clearly conceptualized, carefully reasons, systematically organized, critically examined, and empirically tested.
• Technology is an applied science

  • Applied science is a discipline that is used to apply existing scientific method and knowledge drawn from conclusions to develop more practical goals and applications. 
  • Technology is one of the fruits of studies and discoveries in scientific history.
• Technology is a body of knowledge and skills by which we control and modify the world


  • Science is a body of knowledge – a collection of valuable information about a certain phenomenon.
  • With the rise of the digital age, technology has the power to do many things, and changing the world is one of them.
  • Computers are increasingly faster, more portable, and higher-powered than ever before. With all of these revolutions, technology has also made our lives easier, faster, better, and more fun
• Technology is a total societal enterprise


  Technology is also a total societal enterprise, means that social welfare or benefit of the community must always be in the picture. But with the rise of capitalism, the financial value is now being considered more than the social value.
• The influence of the government, the capitalists, and other sectors in the society on these interconnections make it complicated.