29424 - Seminars (1) (LM) (G.B)

Course contents

20th-century Historiographies of Science

This seminar consists in both an analytical and a contextual reading of classical books of 20^th-century historiography of science.

Every week we will read one book that has or has had an important influence on contemporary historical debates, that has opened up or closed up significant historiographical tendencies, or that has opened or re-opened new problems. The topics and the approaches that will be analyzed in the seminar include: the status of the “scientific revolution” in the early modern era; the relationships between history and political engagement (feminist, eco-feminist, Marxist, etc.); the relationships between history of science and the social sciences; the features of the grand narratives on early modern and modern science; the use of non-textual sources in the history of science; the fights between realism and constructionism; the relationships between the sciences, practical knowledge, and popular cultures.

Each week one student will present a relation of about 40-45 minutes on one of the proposed books (or on one that has to be negotiated with the instructor), and then a discussion moderated by the instructor will follow. Each week, the book in question will be a starting point for comparisons with other books, other historiographical traditions, and the primary sources. This is not about reading a book cover to cover, but rather learning to read a book with an eye to historiographical assumptions and methods, and to contextualize its genesis and reception. At the beginning of the seminar we will set up a calendar for presentations.

The seminar (Wednesday 3-5pm, aula VII, Via Zamboni 38) will begin on February 5, 2020.

It will be possible to sign up for this seminar between 17 December 2019 and 31 January 2020 through the e-learning page:

https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=43569

Readings/Bibliography

Proposed books (other can be negotiated with the instructor; non-Italian books can be read in the original):

Bachelard, Gaston, La formazione dello spirito scientifico : contributo a una psicoanalisi della conoscenza oggettiva, Cortina, 2015.

Bachtin, Mihail Mihailovic, L'opera di Rabelais e la cultura popolare: riso, carnevale e festa nella tradizione medievale e rinascimentale, Einaudi, 1979.

Baxandall, Michael, Pittura ed esperienze sociali nell'Italia del Quattrocento, Einaudi, 2001.

Biagioli, Mario, Galileo, courtier : the practice of science in the culture of absolutism, The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Bloch, Marc, Apologia della storia, o mestiere di storico, Einaudi, 1998.

Calvi, Giulia, Storie di un anno di peste, Bompiani, 1984.

Camporesi, Piero, La carne impassibile : salvezza e salute fra Medioevo e Controriforma, Garzanti, 1994.

Canguilhem, Georges, Il normale e il patologico, Einaudi, 1998.

Cavazza, Marta, Settecento inquieto : alle origini dell'Istituto delle Scienze di Bologna, il Mulino, 1990.

Cosmacini, Giorgio, Storia della medicina e della sanità in Italia : dalla peste europea alla guerra mondiale, 1348-1918, Laterza, 1987.

Crosby, Alfred, Lo scambio colombiano: conseguenze biologiche e culturali del 1492, Einaudi, 1992.

Fleck, Ludwik, Genesi e sviluppo di un fatto scientifico : per una teoria dello stile e del collettivo di pensiero, il Mulino, 1983.

Fox Keller, Evelyn, In sintonia con l'organismo. La vita e l'opera di Barbara McClintock, La salamandra, 1987.

Geymonat, Ludovico, Galileo Galilei, Einaudi, 1962.

Greene, John C., La morte di Adamo: L'evoluzionismo e la sua influenza sul pensiero occidentale, Feltrinelli, 1972.

Guarnieri, Patrizia, L'ammazzabambini: legge e scienza in un processo di fine Ottocento, Laterza, 2006.

Haraway, Donna, Primate visions: gender, race, and nature in the world of modern science, Routledge, 1989.

Harding, Sandra, ed., The "racial" economy of science: Towards a democratic future, Indiana University Press, 1993.

Hessen, Boris Mihajlovic, Le radici sociali ed economiche della meccanica di Newton, Castelvecchi, 2017.

Koyré, Alexandre, Dal mondo del pressappoco all'universo della precisione, Einaudi, 1980.

Kuhn, Thomas S., La struttura delle rivoluzioni scientifiche, Einaudi, 1995.

Laqueur, Thomas, L'identità sessuale dai Greci a Freud, Laterza, 1992.

Latour, Bruno, and Steve Woolgar, Laboratory Life: the social construction of scientific facts, Sage, 1979.

Levi-Strauss, Claude, Razza e storia e altri studi di antropologia, Einaudi, 1967.

Mach, Ernst, Conoscenza ed errore : abbozzi per una psicologia della ricerca, Einaudi, 1982.

Merchant, Carolyn, La morte della natura : le donne, l'ecologia e la rivoluzione scientifica, Garzanti, 1988

Merton, Robert K., Scienza, religione e politica, il Mulino, 2011.

Mondolfo, Rodolfo, Polis, lavoro e tecnica, Feltrinelli, 1982.

Muraro, Luisa, Giambattista Della Porta mago e scienziato, Feltrinelli, 1978.

Noble, David F., Un mondo senza donne. La cultura maschile della Chiesa e la scienza occidentale, Bollati Boringhieri, 1994.

Redondi, Pietro, Galileo eretico, Einaudi, 1983.

Rossi, Paolo, Francesco Bacone : dalla magia alla scienza, Il mulino, 2004.

Schiebinger, Londa, The mind has no sex? Women in the origins of modern science, Harvard University Press, 1989.

Shapin, Steven, e Simon Schaffer, Il Leviatano e la pompa ad aria : Hobbes, Boyle e la cultura dell'esperimento, La nuova Italia, 1994.

Snow, Charles P., Le due culture, Feltrinelli, 1964.

Sulloway, Frank, Freud biologo della psiche. Al di là della leggenda psicoanalitica, feltrinelli, 1982.

Yates, Frances A., L'Illuminismo dei Rosa-Croce, Einaudi, 1976.

Webster, Charles, La grande instaurazione. Scienza e riforma sociale nella rivoluzione puritana, Feltrinelli, 1980.

Zilsel, Edgar, The social origins of modern science, Kluwer, 2000

Teaching methods

Lectures contextualizing the historiography of science;

reading and commenting of the primary sources.

Each week one student will present a relation of about 40-45 minutes on one of the proposed books (or on one that has to be negotiated with the instructor), and then a discussion moderated by the instructor will follow. Each week, the book in question will be a starting point for comparisons with other books, other historiographical traditions, and the primary sources.

Assessment methods

Participation and the presentation will be part of the evaluation. Regarding the second part of the evaluation, students can choose between elaborating their presentation in a written essay (no more than 4,000 words), and an oral exam.

Participation to at least 12 meeting over 15 is highly recommended.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Savoia