History of the Scientific Revolution
Revised: September 2020
Course Description
A study of the role of science in Western culture from classical antiquity to the
seventeenth century.
(P3) Three semester hours
Student Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students will be able to:
- Investigate how science develops in particular social and historical contexts;
- Analyze and interpret primary sources; and
- Craft and defend a historical argument in the context of a research project.
Text
Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1992
Supplementary Texts (required):
Debus, Allen G. Man and Nature in the Renaissance. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1978.
D茅scartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and the Meditations. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.
Galilei, Galileo. Siderius Nuncius or The Siderial Messenger. Translated by Albert Van Helden. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Internet Readings and Electronic Reserve Readings containing primary source materials
from Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Harvey, Paracelsus, Boyle, Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon,
and Newton.
Grading Procedure
Grading procedures and factors influencing course grade are left to the discretion
of individual instructors, subject to general university policy.
Attendance Policy
Attendance policy is left to the discretion of individual instructors, subject to
general university policy.
Course Outline
- Introduction鈥� READING #1: Lindberg, pp. 1-20.鈥ㄢ��
- Science in Classical Antiquity 鈥≧EADING #2: Lindberg, pp. 21- 45.鈥≧EADING #3: Lindberg, pp. 46-84.鈥≧EADING #4: Primary
Source Reading: Plato, The Republic and Timaeus (from internet readings)鈥≧EADING #5:
Primary Source Reading: Aristotle, Metaphysics and De Caelo (On the
Heavens) (from internet readings)鈥≧EADING #6: Lindberg, pp. 85- 110鈥� READING #7:
Primary Source Reading: Ptolemy, Almagest (from internet readings)
- Roman Science鈥� READING #8: Lindberg, pp. 111-159鈥≧EADING #9: Primary Source Reading: Galen (from
Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
- From Islam to the Latin West鈥� READING #10: Lindberg, pp. 161- 214鈥≧EADING #11: Lindberg, pp. 215-280
- The Study of Man and Nature in the Renaissance鈥� READING #12: Lindberg, pp. 281-315 and 355-368.鈥≧EADING #13: Debus, pp. 1-15 and
34-73; Lindberg, pp. 317-353.鈥≧EADING #14: Primary Source Reading: William Harvey,
On The Motion Of The Heart And Blood In Animals, 1628 (from internet readings)
- Chemistry and Alchemy 鈥≧EADING #15: Debus, pp. 16-33 and 121- 130鈥≧EADING #16: Primary Source Reading:
Paracelsus (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)鈥≧EADING #17: Primary Source Reading:
Boyle (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
- Astronomy鈥� READING #18: Debus, pp. 74-100.鈥≧EADING #19: Primary Source Reading: Copernicus (from
Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)鈥� READING #20: Primary Source Reading: Kepler (from
Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)鈥≧EADING #21: Galileo, Sidereus Nuncius 鈥≧EADING
#22:
Primary Source Reading: Galileo (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
- Scientific Method鈥� READING #23: Debus, pp. 101-121鈥≧EADING #24: Primary Source Reading: Bacon's New
Atlantis (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)鈥≧EADING #25: Primary Source Reading:
Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620) (from internet readings) 鈥≧EADING #26: Descartes,
Discourse on Method, pp. 5-54.鈥� READING #27: Conclusion of Descartes
- Mathematics and Physics 鈥≧EADING #28: Primary Source Reading: Galileo (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
鈥≧EADING #29: Primary Source Reading: Newton Principia Mathematica (from internet
readings)鈥� READING #30: Primary Source Reading: Newton Opticks (from internet readings)