92918 - History of Science

Learning outcomes

Through the study of scientific theories and practices across the centuries, from antiquity to the modern era, students will learn how to critically deal with science, its epistemological value and historical developments. Moreover, students will learn how to read scientific texts produced in different historical periods, and how to investigate their historical and cultural origins.

Course contents

This course traces the historical interaction of science and society. Readings and lectures focus on developments in scientific knowledge, as well as conceptions of nature, objectivity, calculation, medicine, and technology in pre-modern societies.

The first part of this course will survey important episodes in the history of science and will emphasize the interaction of pre-modern scientific knowledge and socio-historical processes. Lecture topics include Babylonian astronomy and mathematics, ancient Greek medicine, Islamic and early modern alchemy, and Enlightenment automata.

In the second part of the course, we will focus on the developing historical methodology by examining primary texts that helped reshape the way historians envisaged the development of the history of science, such as Ludwik Fleck's (1935) Genesis and Development of Scientific Fact. Collectively, these materials will guide our exploration of the course's central question: What sort of knowledge is scientific knowledge?

Readings/Bibliography

Selected primary and secondary readings:

Bucchi, Massimiano. 2018. Science In Society: an Introduction to Social Studies of Science.

Cuomo, Serafina. 2007. Technology and Culture in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dallal, Ahmad. 2010. Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Fleck, Ludwik. (1935) 1979. Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Golinski, Jan. 2010. Making Natural Knowledge. University of Chicago Press.

Lloyd, G. E. R. 2004. Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections : Philosophical Perspectives on Greek and Chinese Science and Culture. New York: Clarendon Press.

Principe, Lawrence M. 2013. The Secrets of Alchemy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Riskin, Jessica. 2016. The Restless Clock. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Robson, Eleanor. 2008. Mathematics in Ancient Iraq : A Social History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Steele, John M. 2008. A Brief Introduction to Astronomy in the Middle East. London: Saqi.

 

Teaching methods

The first part of the course will consist of powerpoint lectures and discussion of historical topics. The second part of the course will focus on developing skills in primary text reading and historical methodology within the field of history of science.

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated. The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to contextualize them in their historical epoch. The achievement of a systematic knowlege of the issues addressed during the classes and a critical approach to the sources combined with precision of language will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the texts combined with scholastic exposé will be assessed by good marking (23-27); training gaps and superficial contextualization and knowledge of the texts will be assessed with sufficient markings (18-22). Lacks of any of the above requirements will lead to a negative marking.

Office hours

See the website of Eduardo Andres Escobar Briones