04462 - History of Science and Technique (G.B)

Learning outcomes

The history of science is by now a discipline present in almost all Italian universities and part of many degree courses of study, both in the humanities and sciences. The central role this course plays in university education is principally based on two fundamental motivations: 1) the recognition of the history of science as an ideal discipline in order to surpass the problematic fracture between humanist culture and scientific culture 2) the evidence that the development of science and technology is the most decisive and apparent aspect of the contemporary world. The history of science and technique course is therefore firstly characterised by its highly interdisciplinary content and by the possibility to offer outlooks of analysis and study that differ from and are alternative to the traditional approach of fields of knowledge, both in the humanist and scientific worlds.

Course contents

The course aims at drawing a picture of the history of ideas and practices that characterized the human approach to nature from Babylonian antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages.

In the first part of the course, we will study the main currents of theoretical development of Ancient, Hellenistic, Late Antique, Islamic and Medieval natural philosophy. We will analyze specific sciences (mathematics, astronomy-astrology, mechanics, medicine, etc.) and their relationship with the artisanal and productive practices of the time, which are often overlooked in the classical narratives on the development of pre-modern science. We will focus in particular on the Mediterranean basin as the stage of lively theoretical and practical scientific exchanges between disparate cultural, linguistic and ethnic actors.

The second part of the course, following the historical outline traced in the first part, will investigate the history of alchemy, a discipline at the hinge between practice and theory by definition. A selection of important texts of Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Latin origin will be analysed during the course. The themes and historical tendences identified in the first part of the course will resurface in the study of the history of alchemy and its textual lore.

Topics

Part I: General Introduction: Science and Technique from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (30 hours)

Science before science? How to study pre-modern science

Babylon and Egypt

Science in Greece in the Classical period

Scientific developments in Hellenistic times

Roman civilization, sciences and techniques

Science in Byzantium

The Greek-Syriac-Arabic translation movement

Science and Islām

The reception of Graeco-Arabic sciences in the Medieval Latin world

Part II: Monographic Course: Alchemy (30 hours)

The origins of alchemy

Etymological and Historiographical problems

Alchemy and artisanal knowledge in the Greek and Hellenistic world

Pseudoepigraphy, secrecy and authority

Alchemy in the Islamic world: letters, balances, alembics and crucibles

Alchemy, philosophy, religion and artisanal practices in the Latin Middle Ages

Alchemical imagery and practice

Alchemy, philology and laboratory replications

Readings/Bibliography

- Part I:

1) Clericuzio, A., Uomo e Natura. Scienza, tecnica e società dall’antichità all’età moderna, Firenze: Carocci 2022, pp. 1-183

2) Gutas, D., Pensiero Greco e Cultura Araba, Torino: Einaudi 1998, pp. 15-35; 125-177.

3) Primary sources read and commented in class (available on Virtuale)

4) Secondary literature suggested in class (available on Virtuale)

- Part II:

1) Pereira, M., Arcana Sapienza. L’alchimia dalle origini a Jung, Roma: Carocci 2021, pp. 23-180

3) Primary sources read and commented in class (available on Virtuale)

4) Secondary literature suggested in class (available on Virtuale)

Students not attending classes

Not-attending students should also complete the reading of Gutas’ and Pereira’s books, which are listed above in the bibliography for the first and second part of the course.

Teaching methods

Lecture on the course’s topics.

Reading and in-class commentary of relevant passages from primary sources in the history of pre-modern science.

Students will be encouraged to deliver short presentations on discreet topics (either individually or as part of a group)

Assessment methods

The exam consists in a oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated. The student will be invited to discuss texts covered during the course and to expand on their historical context. The achievement of a systematic knowledge of the topics addressed in class and of a critical approach to the sources together with the use of precise language will be assessed with grades of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the topics together with proper exposition will be assessed by good grades (23-27); gaps in the mastery of the topics of the course, superficial contextualization and knowledge of the texts will be assessed with sufficient grades (18-22). Lack of any of the above requirements will lead to a negative grades.

Teaching tools

Use of ppt slides and multimedia educational tools.

Office hours

See the website of Gabriele Ferrario