What sort of tools do historians use to understand and interpret science? How did science emerge as a distinctive kind of knowledge? This seminar introduces students to the history of science as a field of study, using the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the age of such figures as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, as a case study in the historical interpretation of science. It examines the intellectual, cultural and institutional context in which western science emerged. More generally, it is concerned with how historians have explained and debated the birth pangs of modern science.
Taking advantage of Stanford's rich holdings in early science books, we will have class in the Barchas Room (Special Collections) in order to examine original source materials for the history of science. In addition, we will also do some work with reproductions of early scientific instruments in order to understand their possibilities and limitations as tools of knowledge.
The following books can be purchased at the Stanford Bookstore and are on two-hour reserve in Green Library. Readings marked with an asterisk (*) can be found in the online course reader (N.B. Those available through JSTOR can only be printed out on campus computers not on your personal computer at home):
Francis Bacon, Great Instauration and New Atlantis
Margaret Cavendish, Observations on Experimental Philosophy
Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences
René Descartes, A Discourse on Method
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Richard Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton
Week One (1/7): Scientific Revolution, Revolutions or Evolution?
Introduction (Copernicus and Vesalius handouts)
Week Two (1/14): Surveying the Scientific Revolution
Reading: Dear
Class Exercise: Look at Copernicus, Vesalius and Fuchs
(Special Collections)
Week Three (1/21): Envisioning a Scientific Society
Reading: Bacon; Harkness*; Dear*; Shapin*
Class Exercise: Look at Aldrovandi and Bacon (Special Collections)
Week Four (1/28): Debating the Systems
Reading: Galileo, pp. xiii-xxxvii, 483-539 (rest to be divided up in
groups);
Biagioli*
Class Exercise: Look at Kepler and Galileo
*** First paper due: Friday, January 31 (5 pp.) ***
Week Five (2/4): Inducing the World
Reading: Descartes, pp. xiii-150; Jones*
Visit by Professor Matthew Jones (Columbia University)
Class Exercise: Look at Descartes
*** Lecture by Professor Jones, 5:00-6:30 pm (200-307) ***
Week Six (2/11): Critiquing the New Philosophy
Reading: Cavendish, pp. x-xxxviii, 1-248; Shapin and Schaffer*
Class Exercise: Look at Hooke and Sprat (Special Collections)
Week Seven (2/18): No Class
Work on your final projects and meet with me to discuss them
*** Project Proposals Due: Friday, February 21 (2 pp. + biblio.) ***
Week Eight (2/25): The Birth of the "Scientist"
Reading: Westfall; Findlen*
Class Exercise: Look at Kircher and Newton's alchemical library
(Special Collections)
Week Nine (3/4): Science and Society
Reading: Fontenelle; Schiebinger*; Findlen*, "Becoming a Scientist: Gender and Knowledge in Enlightenment Italy," Science in Context (forthcoming).
Class Exercise: Look at Algarotti
*** Rough drafts due for WIM requirement: Tuesday, March 11 ***
Week Ten (3/11): Final Project Presentations
*** Final paper due: Tuesday, March 18 ***
Course Requirements
Undergraduates will write a five-page book review of one recent monograph on some aspect of early modern science (25%) and a 13-15 page final paper (50%) on a well-defined topic (approved by the instructor) that makes good use of some of the original sources for studying the Scientific Revolution. In a seminar, regular attendance and active participation in discussion are important (25%). I will ask you to introduce the readings once or twice during the quarter with other students, and prepare a brief presentation of your project at the end of the quarter. Students using this class to fulfill the WIM requirement will be expected to hand in a rough draft for comments on March 11.
Graduate students will write a book review of one recent monograph on some aspect of early modern science (5 pp.), due January 31, and a longer essay (18-20 pp.) on a topic of their own choosing, due on March 19. I will also ask you to participate in the group presentations of readings and prepare a brief presentation of your research project at the end of the quarter.
The WIM (Writing in the Major) tutor for this class is Daniel Stolzenberg (stolzius@stanford.edu) who will be holding office hours every Tues, 1-2 pm (200-312).
Office Hours I will hold office hours on Thurs 1:30-3:30 in Bldg. 200, Rm. 118 (723-9570). You are also welcome to reach me by email (pfindlen@stanford.edu), which I read several times a week between Monday and Friday.
Special Collections: Weeks 2-6, 8-9 we will not meet in our assigned classroom but in the Barchas Room of Green Library. To get there, you will need to go through the main reading room of Special Collections (on the second floor of Green West). If this is your first time, using Special Collections, arrive a few minutes early the first meeting to register as a reader. Bring a pencil for taking notes. Each week I will have the books for class on reserve under my name in Special Collections so that you can look at them before and after as well during class.