92914 - Social History of Science (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to provide the students the tools for analyzing historically the social, gendered, political, and cultural contexts of science and medicine. More specific aims include: the analysis of the relationship between scientific practices and popular cultures; the analysis of the relations between science and everyday life; the interpretation of scientific knowledge in light of the social and cultural contexts of its actors; the development of bibliographical and archival research skills.

Course contents

CLUES, OBJECTIVITY, AND CLIMATE: ISSUES OF METHOD BETWEEN THE SCIENCES AND HISTORY

This course analyzes some cognitive categories that circulated between the sciences and historiography in the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. Such cognitive categories are tools that organize historical narratives (who are the actors of history? when a historical period starts and ends? which sides must be placed on the forefront and in the background?). We will focus on analogies and exchanges connecting historical and scientific methods, with special reference to four main topics. The first one concerns the relationships between knowledge of the past and knowledge of nature; the second ways of knowing through clues and details with special reference to psychoanalysis, medicine and the human sciences; the third the relationships between objectivity and gender; finally, the fourth will focus on the relationships between historical and bio-geo-chemical time with special reference to the idea of the anthropocene.

The course traces interdisciplinary paths that connect – and create tensions among – the history of science, gender history, social history, and cultural history.

 

Classes will begin on January 29, 2024: Monday 11-13 (Aula A, via Centotrecento); Thursday 17-19 (aula I, via Zamboni 38); Friday 15-17 (aula A, via Centotrecento).

Readings/Bibliography

Part 1

a) Sciences and the historical method

– Marc Bloch, Apologia della storia (Einaudi, 2009) [Introduzione e capitolo 1]
– Niels Bohr, "La teoria atomica e i principi fondamentali della descrizione della natura" in Id., I quanti e la vita (Bollati Boringhieri, 2012) [pp. 11-24]

b) Traces and details

– Carlo Ginzburg, "Spie. Radici di un paradigma indiziario" e "Freud, l'uomo dei lupi e i lupi mannari" in Id., Miti Emblemi Spie (Einaudi, 2000) [pp. 158-210 e pp. 239-249]
– Sigmund Freud, L'uomo dei lupi. Casi clinici/7 (Bollati Boringhieri, 1977) [sezioni 1, 2 e 4; poi le pp. 54-58, 63-66, 103-104, 125-128]

c) Gender and objectivity

– Joan Scott, "Il genere: un'utile categoria di analisi storica" in Id., Genere, politica, storia (Viella, 2013) [pp. 31-66]
– Donna Haraway, "Saperi situati. La questione della scienza nel femminismo e il privilegio di una prospettiva parziale" in Id., Manifesto Cyborg (Feltrinelli, 2018) [pp. 103-134]

d) Climate and history

– Andreas Malm e alf Hornborg, “The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative”, The Anthropocene Review, 1(1), 62–69

– Anna L. Tsing, “L’arte di osservare” e “Seguire le tracce”, in Id., Il fungo alla fine del mondo. La possibilità di vivere nelle rovine del capitalismo (Keller, 2021) [pp. 43-55 e pp. 206-217]

Parte 2

2.1Historical techniques and narratives between the arts and the sciences

- Siegfried Kracauer, Prima delle cose ultime (Marietti, 1985)

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

- Edgar Zilsel, The social origins of modern science (Kluwer, 2000)

– Michel Foucault, "Nietzsche, la genealogia, la storia", in Id., Il discorso, la storia, la verità : interventi 1969-1984 (Einaudi, 2001)

– Fernand Braudel, Scritti sulla storia (Bompiani, 2003)

– Carlo Ginzburg, Il filo e le tracce. Vero falso finto (Feltrinelli, 2006)

– Hayden White, "Prefazione", in Id., Metahistory. Retorica e storia (Meltemi, 2019), pp. 39-100

– Krzysztof Pomian, "Storia della scienza e storia della storia", in Che cos'è la storia? (Bruno Mondadori, 2001), pp. 81-108.

– Francesca Trivellato, Microstoria e storia globale (Officina Libraria, 2023)

2.2 Gender, women, science

- Sandra Harding, Objectivity and Diversity: Another Logic of Scientific Research (University of Chicago Press, 2015)

- Carolyn Merchant, La morte della natura: donne, ecologia e rivoluzione scientifica (Bibliografica, 2022)

– Evelyn Fox Keller, Sul genere e la scienza (Garzanti, 1995)

– Bonnie G. Smith, The gender of history: women, men, and historical practice (Harvard University Press, 2000)

– Helen Longino, Science as Social Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 1990)

– Londa Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex? (Harvard University Press, 1989)

– Valerie Plumwood, Feminism and the mastery of nature (Routledge, 1993)

2.3 Cases, objectivity, history

- John Forrester, Thinking in cases, (Wiley, 2016)

- Lorraine Daston, and Peter Galison, Objectivity, (Zone Books, 2007)

– Flavia Padovani, Alan Richardson, John Tsou, ed., Objectivity in Science: New Perspectives from Science and Technology Studies Springer, 2016)

– Peter Novik, That noble dream: The objectivity question and the American historical profession (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

– Georges Canguilhem, Ideologia e razionalità nella storia delle scienze della vita (Firenze, 1992)

– Robert Merton, Scienza, religione e politica (Il Mulino, 2011)

– Gaston Bachelard, La formazione dello spirito scientifico (Cortina, 1995)

– Thomas Kuhn, La struttura delle rivoluzioni scientifiche (Einaudi, qualsiasi edizione)

2.4 Climate, history, politics

– Jason W. Moore, Antropocene o capitalocene? Scenari di economia-mondo nella crisi planetaria (Ombre Corte, 2017)

– Dipesh Chakrabarty, Clima, storia e capitale (Nottetempo, 2021)

– Donna Haraway, Chthulucene. Sopravvivere su un pianeta infetto (Nero, 2019)

– Stefania Barca, Le forze di riproduzione (Edizioni Ambiente, 2023)

– Marco Armiero, L'era degli scarti (Einaudi, 2021)

– Bruno Latour, La sfida di Gaia. Il nuovo regime climatico (Meltemi, 2020)

– Naomi Oreskes e Eric Conway, Mercanti di dubbi (Edizioni Ambiente, 2019)

– Cristophe Bonneuil e Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, La terra, la storia e noi. L’evento antropocene (Treccani, 2016)

– Michael Egan, "Survival Science: Crisis Disciplines and the Shock of the Environment in the 1970s", Centaurus, 59, 1-2 (2017), pp. 26-39.

– https://feralatlas.supdigital.org/

Teaching methods

Ten Lectures.

Texts and primary sources that will be discussed in class will be added to the bibliography for those interested in them. To encourage class participation, each lecture will be followed by a session of questions and comments. I will provide in advance the calendar with all the topics and readings for each lecture: it is highly recommended to read the texts in advance in order to better participate to class discussions. 

The second part of the course (five meetings) will be devoted to students' presentations, individually or in group. The dates and contents of the presentations will be decided during the first classes.

Assessment methods

Oral exam (on part 1) and class presentation.

In the second part of the course students will choose one text to present in class with the help of slides, either individually or in group following common threads. Slides will be circulated with the whole group 24 hours in advance of the presentation in order to make discussions more precise and lively. This presentation is part of the evaluation.

As an alternative to class presentation, students attending classes can choose to write a review of one of the texts of part 2 (max. 1500 words), to be delivered 24 hours before the oral exam.

In any case, all the slots for class presentations must be filled.

Students not attending classes must prepare all the texts from part 1 and one of the texts from part 2.

Top marks (28-30) will be given to students who demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the material discussed in class and contained in the texts, critical and analytical skills, and the ability to express ideas and concepts clearly and cogently. Those students who will demonstrate a good knowledge of the material but tend to repeat it mechanically rather than demonstrate full understanding and the ability to build connections and present an argument will be rewarded with average to high marks (23-27). Students who demonstrate superficial knowledge, gaps in preparation, poor critical and analytical skills and difficulties of expression will receive average to low marks (18-22). Severe lacunae in one or more areas listed above could lead to the student repeating the exam.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD). Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special accommodations according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the teacher but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adaptations. For more information, visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Savoia