This course provides an advanced introduction to the history of the modern sciences. It emphasizes recent secondary literature as it surveys key events in the physical, biological, medical, environmental and human sciences, along with the variety of historians’ approaches to them. Overarching themes include the history of scientific ideas, science in national and international contexts, and scientific disciplines and institutions.
Learn more about this courseThe course centers on ideas associated with Pluralism as applied to scientific practice. Pluralism itself has had a long tradition in the historical and political study of the individual and society, and it was championed, for example, by Isaiah Berlin in the 20th century. However, pluralism as a normative position has only rarely been applied to science studies (Charles S. Pierce, might be an exception here). More recently several philosophers of science have begun exploring the role for pluralism in scientific practice (Hasok Chang, Helen Longino, Stephen Kellert, for example). We examine the historical development of science towards an increasingly monistic practice and consider the philosophical and practical promises as well as challenges of driving science in a more pluralistic direction.
Learn more about this courseWe will review some of the most influential texts and figures of Anglo-American philosophy of science in the 20th-21st Century, aiming to give both undergraduate and graduate students a strong background in the key positions and issues that serve as the background of the field today.
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The College of Arts