HISTORY OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

This course will prepare students to understand the development of early modern history of science in relation to its institutional, social, religious, and intellectual contexts. To do this the course will examine the transformation of understandings of nature during this period, which in past scholarship has been referred to as the Scientific Revolution. In particular, the course will focus on the transformations of the field of natural history. The formal objectives include applying the methods of the history of science to build a deeper understanding of early modern science and producing research on this subject.

1. Understanding methods of the history of science.
Understanding major themes in early modern thought about the natural world.
Understanding the context of natural history in early modern Europe.
Understanding the historiography related to these themes.
2. The ability to analyze early modern natural historical writings and place these writings in their social, intellectual, and institutional contexts.
3. The ability to research and write about the Scientific Revolution.
4. The ability to communicate ideas about the history of science in oral presentations, written exercises, and oral exams.
5. The ability to participate in and contribute group discussions on the history of science in seminars.
6. The ability to understanding developments in the historiography of early modern science.

There are no prerequisites.

The course covers the natural history as practiced in early modern Europe. In particular the course will exam its practices of describing, classifying, and collecting natural specimens. Additionally, it will consider these practices in relation to transformations of early modern medicine, exploration of the world, and new methods proposed by Francis Bacon. Special attention will be given to the intellectual, social, cultural, economic, and institutional contexts of natural history.

Brian Ogilvie, The Science of Describing: Natural History in Renaissance Europe, Chicago, 2006.

Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1996.

Dana Jalobeanu, The Art of Experimental Natural Philosophy: Francis Bacon in Context, Bucharest, 2015.

The course will be based on seminars.

Oral exam based on research paper.

English

written and oral