syllabus 001 2011

STSC 001 Syllabus • 2011 Schedule

The Emergence of Modern Science STSC/ HSOC 001

Fall 2011

Professor: John Tresch M-W lecture, 12-12:50, Claudia Cohen Hall 402

Recitation sections, Fridays Over the past 500 years, science has emerged as a central and transformative feature of world society, a human enterprise that continues to reshape everyday life in countless ways. How and why did the methods of natural science take root in the West, and why did they gradually change the way we see the world? What was the “Scientific Revolution,” and why did it take place when and where it did? How has the thinking of scientists been shaped by the culture, religion, and politics of their own times? How has science transformed the way we understand the universe and our place in it? This lecture course will survey the development of European science from its early Mediterranean origins through the start of the 21st Century. By focusing on the life and work of those who created modern science, we will explore their core ideas, where those ideas came from, what problems they solved, what made them controversial and exciting, and how they related to contemporary politics, religious beliefs, and arts. The course is organized both chronologically and thematically. In short, this is a “Western Civ” course with a difference. The course has no prerequisites and is intended for a wide variety of students. Freshmen may find it a useful holistic introduction to their university studies; more advanced students may find it helpful in filling in gaps and putting what they know in broader perspective. Monday and Wednesday lectures will present the central ideas: attentive lecture and recitation attendance is mandatory. Friday sections will afford the opportunity for hands-on observation, discussion, and debate. Grading will be based on two quizzes, three short papers, a midterm and a final exam, along with participation. Office Hours: Mondays 2:00-3:30 (3rd floor Cohen) and by appointment: [email protected]>

Teaching Assistants: Lisa Ruth Rand: <[email protected]> Nadia Berenstein: < [email protected][email protected]> Readings There are two textbooks and a collection of primary sources available as PDFs. The books are available at Penn Book Center, and copies are also on reserve at Rosengarten Reserves.

David Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, second edition. (Chicago, 2007). Peter Bowler and Iwan Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey. (Chicago, 2005).

The syllabus will list readings for each week of class. You should do the readings for that week by Monday: they will provide important background and context for lectures. Recitation sections on Fridays will involve discussion based on the readings as well as the lectures. These are mandatory.


Assignments/ Grading There will be three short papers, two short quizzes, a midterm and a final exam. Regular attendance in class and recitations are required; participation and attendance are part of your grade. Short Papers: 3x 10%= (30) Two short quizzes 2 x10 %= (20 Midterm/ Final 2 x 30%= (40) Participation/ Attendance: 10%= (10)

CLASS SCHEDULE

UNIT 1: ROOTS

Week 1 Reading: PDF: Latour and Woolgar, Laboratory Life: 43-86

Sept 7 Lecture 1: The Places of Science

Sept 9 SECTION

Week 2 Readings: Lindberg: 1-66 (Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle)

PDF: Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates 7-12

Sept 12 Lecture 2: Natural Knowledge in Ancient Worlds

Sept 14 Lecture 3: Being and Nothingness, Form and Substance

Sept 16 SECTION

Week 3 Readings: Lindberg: 67-110 (Hellenism); 132-146 (Rome) 162-192 (Islam) PDF: E & C: Pliny 57-62; Geber, Ibn Rushd 64-71; Al-Khwarizmi, 78-81

Sept 19 Lecture 4: The Greeks, the Romans, the Goths, the Monks

Sept 21 Lecture 5: The Islamic Renaissance

Sept 23 SECTION ***SECOND PAPER DUE***

Week 4 Readings: Lindberg: 193-253 (Scholasticism); 257-267 (Medieval Legacy)

PDF: Medieval Universities and Aristotle 37-44

Sept 26 Lecture 6: Catching up with the Caliphs: The Philosopher and the University

Sept 28 Lecture 7: Mediterranean Renaissance

Sept 30 ***SECTIONS WILL MEET at Rare Books Room in Van Pelt Library***


UNIT 2: REVOLUTION Week 5 Readings: PDF: Renaissance magic, 49-57; Courts and Patronage 63-66; Science

and Printing 85-9; Copernicus (Ossiander) 93-99; Mechanical Philosophy 120-127; Descartes’ Astronomy 111-3; Man a Machine 129-30

Oct 3 Lecture 8: Northern Renaissance

Oct 5 Lecture 9: Plato’s Return: The Move to Mechanics

Oct 7 SECTION (VAN PELT)

Week 6 Readings: Bowler and Morus:; 319-326 (societies)

PDF: Salomon’s House, 59-62; Koyré on Newton, 136-138

Oct 10 Fall break: NO CLASS

Oct 12 Lecture 10: Newton’s Networks

Oct 14 SECTION

Week 7 Readings: Bowler and Morus: : 46-52 (Newton)

PDF: E & C Diderot 198-201; Voltaire (Locke, Newton)143-5 Condorcet 266-267; E & C 201-204 Newton for the Ladies

Oct 17 Lecture 11: Science and Enlightened Society ***SECOND PAPER DUE***

Oct 19 Lecture 12: Surveying and Collecting the Planet

Oct 21 SECTION/ REVIEW

Week 8 Readings: Bowler and Morus, 55-77 (chem) PDF: Science and Revolution, 150-154

Oct 24 Lecture 13: Natural Law and Revolutions

Oct 26 *** IN CLASS MIDTERM: 50-MINUTE EXAM 10/29***

Oct 28 No Section.

UNIT 3: THE AGE OF “PROGRESS” Week 9 Readings: Bowler and Morus: 103- 126 (Geology); 346-354 (Nat. Theo)

PDF: E & C Lyell, 251-257; Darwin, 219-23

Oct 31 Lecture 14: Romanticism and Science

Nov 2 Lecture 15: The Age of the Earth and the Origin of Species

Nov 4 SECTION


Week 10 Readings: Bowler and Morus: 79-101 (19th c. phys)

PDF: Aether and Reality 240-1

Nov 7 Lecture 16 : The Mechanical Age

Nov 9 Lecture 17: Force, Energy, Power

Nov 11 SECTION

Week 11 Readings: Bowler and Morus 299-315 (Hum. sci.); 415-30 (ideology)

PDF: Spencer, 223-8

Nov 14 Lecture 18: Building Blocks

Nov 16 Lecture 19: Progress and Degeneracy

Nov 18 *** FIELD TRIP: WAGNER SCIENCE MUSEUM, 1 - 4 p.m. 11/12 *** (to be confirmed)

UNIT 4: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Week 12 Readings: Bowler and Morus: (Genetics) PDF: E & C: Morgan 356-362; Schrodinger, Watson and Crick. 380-6

Nov 21 Lecture 20: The New Biology, from Mendel to DNA

Nov 23 Thanksgiving, NO SECTION

Week 13 Readings: Bowler and Morus: 253-275 (20th c. Phys.); 463-479 (Sci & War)

PDF: Russell, Relativity, 244-7; Heisenberg, 252-6; Heisenberg, 257-61

Nov 28 Lecture 21: Science and War

Nov 30 Lecture 22: The New Physics GUEST LECTURE: Babak Ashrafi, Penn/PACHS

Dec 2 SECTION ***THIRD PAPER DUE***

Week 14 Readings: Bowler and Morus: 479-484 (Cold War)

PDF: E & C: Turing, Carson, HGP, 435-447

Dec 5 Lecture 23: The Cold War and Big Science

Dec 7 Lecture 24: Placeless Spaces; Where Will It All End?

Dec 9 SECTION/ REVIEW

FINALS WEEK: 12-2 p.m., Weds, Dec. 15th ***FINAL EXAM ***

syllabus 001 2011

Documents