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| Sept 26 |
Introduction Has "science" undergone "revolutions?" Who has cared, and why Westfall, 1993, chapts. 1-3.  |
| Oct 1 |
Before Newton: Natural philosophy, society and manners in the 17th century Westfall, 1993, chapts. 4-7. Essay 1 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 30 Sept, by 4 pm): Using the DSB and one secondary article published after 1980, write a two-page essay on a seventeenth-century natural philosopher summarizing i) their career trajectory and ii) their contributions (or lack thereof!) to "The Scientific Revolution" and/or to natural philosophy. Select your subject from the list in Appendix 1. Add graffiti to the essays as necessary. Read all student essays. Be prepared to discuss the geographical and gender distributions, the philosophical and religious interests, the employment possibilities, and the place of novelty and mathematics in the work of these natural philosophers. |
| Oct 3 |
Decoding Newton, his natural philosophy, religion and politics Westfall, 1993, chapts. 8-13. Cohen and Westfall, eds., 1995, pp. 3-12, 39-55, 58-72 [=Koyre, 1948], 96-108 [=McGuire and Rattansi, 1966], 111-18, 147-54, 202-17 [=Schaffer, 1989], 221-38, 253-62, 299-301, 308-12, 315-24 [=Dobbs, 1982], 327-42, 373-77. *Force, James E. "Newton's God of dominion: The unity of Newton's theological, scientific and political thought." In idem and Richard H. Popkin, Essays on the context, nature and influence of Isaac Newton's theology, pp. 75-102. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1990. *Cunningham, Andrew. "How the "Principia" got its name; Or, taking natural philosophy seriously." History of science 29 (1991): 377-92. |
| Oct 8 |
"Newtonianism(s)" and 18th-century sciences *Schaffer, Simon. "Newtonianism." In Companion to the history of modern science, pp. 610-26. Ed. R. C. Olby, et al. London: Routledge, 1990. Essay 2 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 7 Oct, by 4 pm): Examine one ostensibly "Newtonian" 18th-century work (from Appendix 2), and write a three-page essay discussing i) the uses to which your author puts "Newton" and ii) the ideas, texts, or methods which are presented as "Newtonian." Be sure to read Schaffer before writing your essay, and consider whether his approach is helpful to understanding the above two questions. NB: You may write either Essay 2 or Essay 5, but need not write both. Read all student essays. Be prepared to compare and contrast the various images of Newton constructed by 18th-century authors. Why might these authors have wanted to wrap themselves in the legacy of Newton? Add graffiti to the essays as necessary. *Jackson, Myles W. "A spectrum of belief: Goethe's 'republic' versus Newtonian 'despotism'." Social studies of science 24 (1994): 673-701. *Hahn, Roger. "Laplace and the mechanistic universe." In God and nature: Historical essays on the encounter between Christianity and science, pp. 256-76. Ed. David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. |
| Oct 10 |
Coffee houses, factories, pulpits, Masonic lodges: Newton's many cultural legacies *Bentley, Richard. "A confutation of atheism from the origin and frame of the world, Part II" [1692]. In Alexaner Dyce, ed., The works of Richard Bentley, 3: 146-72. London: Francis MacPherson, 1838. *Desaguliers, J. T. The Newtonian system of the world, the best model of government: An allegorical poem. Westminster: A. Campbell, 1728. *Stafford, Barbara. "Science as fine art: Another look at Boullee's cenatoph for Newton." Studies in eighteenth-century culture 11 (1982): 241-78. *Yeo, Richard. "Genius, method, and morality: Images of Newton in Britain, 1760-1860." Science in context 2 (1988): 257-84. *Stewart, Larry. "The selling of Newton: Science and technology in early 18th-century England." Journal of British Studies 25 (1986): 178-92. *Stewart, Larry. "Seeing through the Scholium: Religion and reading Newton in the eighteenth century." History of science 34 (1996): 123-65. |
| Oct 15 |
Gender and the practice of science in the 18th century Schiebinger, 1993. Essay 3 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 14 Oct, by 4 pm): Schiebinger labels her book a "political history of science" [9]. What does she mean by the phrase? Do you agree with her definition? How successful is the book in offering such a history? Write a two-page essay discussing these questions (be sure to include specific examples to support your argument). Read all student essays, adding graffiti wherever appropriate. |
| Oct 17 |
Species, fossils, transformism and geological change before Darwin Desmond/Moore, 1991, Chapts. 1-13. Appleman, ed., 1979, Part I. |
| Oct 22 |
Darwin's life and the fate of the "natural philosopher" in the 19th century Desmond/Moore, 1991, Chapts. 14-32 (whew!). Essay 4 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 14 Oct, by 4 pm): If this biography has a thesis, it might be that Darwin was terrified by what he thought would be the disastrous consequences of publishing his theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1844, he even admitted that a belief in the mutability of species is like "confessing to a murder" (314). Write a two-page essay discussing i) why, according to Desmond/Moore, Darwin compared his theory to society's ultimate crime, and ii) evaluating Desmond/Moore's attempts to link Darwin's scientific ideas to the class structures and anxieties of 19th-century British society. Read all student essays, adding graffiti wherever appropriate. |
| Oct 24 |
Reading Darwin, then and now Appleman, ed., 1979, pp. 35-131 (NB: from the 6th edition, 1872!) *Brooke, John H. "The relations between Darwin's science and his religion." In Darwinism and divinity, 40-75. Ed. John Durant. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985. |
| Oct 29 |
Evolutionary theory and the life sciences after Darwin Desmond/Moore, 1991, Chapts. 33-38. Appleman, ed., 1979, pp. 220-43. |
| Oct 31 |
"Science vs. Religion?" "Social Darwinism?" Rethinking Darwin's impacts on 19th-century culture Desmond/Moore, 1991, Chapts. 39-44. Appleman, ed., 1979, pp. 297-304 [=Peckham, 1959]. Essay 5 (to be posted to the class web site by Wed, 30 Oct, by 4 pm): Read one of the secondary works on Darwin's cultural impacts (selected from Appendix 3), and write a two-page critique of Peckham's distinction between "Darwinism" and "Darwinisticism" based on the arguments of your monograph. Be prepared to discuss in class the thesis of your monograph. Read all student essays, adding graffiti wherever appropriate. |
| Nov 5 |
The world of the classical (Newtonian) physicist to 1914 McCormmach, 1991. Essay 6 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 4 Nov, by 4 pm): Write a two-page essay discussing why you think that Victor Jakob did (or did not) commit suicide. Be sure to consider the significance of the "classical" and of the war for him. Read all student essays, adding graffiti wherever appropriate. |
| Nov 7 |
Physics, 1895-98, and the young Einstein *Williams, L. Pearce, ed. Relativity theory, its origins and impact on modern thought. Huntington, N.Y. : R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1979. Part I, 3 [=Michelson and Morley, 1887]. *Holton, Gerald. "Of physics, love, and other passions: The letters of Albert and Mileva." In idem, Einstein, history and other passions, Chapt. 8. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1996. |
| Nov 12 |
Einstein's science and the origins of "modern" physics *Einstein, "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" [1905]; "Relativity, the special and general theory" [1921]; "Autobiographical notes" [1949]. In L. Pearce Williams, ed., Relativity theory (New York: Wiley, 1968), pp. 49-94. *Hirosige, Tetu. "The ether problem, the mechanistic worldview, and the origins of the theory of relativity." Historical studies in the physical sciences, 7 (1976), 3-82 (start reading carefully after p. 51). |
| Nov 14 |
The later Einstein: cosmology and general relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons and Israel *French, A. P. "Einstein and world affairs." In idem, ed., Einstein: A centenary volume (Cambridge: Havard University Press, 1979), pp. 185-97. Einstein, misc. writings on public affairs and Judaism, in idem, Out of my later years, rev. reprint ed. (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950), pp. 123-51, 245-64. |
| Nov 19 |
Einstein as myth in the 20th century (research reports) Essay 7 (to be posted to the class web site by Monday, 18 Nov, by 4 pm): Find a visual representation of Einstein or a short literary work about him; scan and post to our web site this representation and post a one-page essay analyzing the "image" of Einstein in your representation. For ideas, see *Dennis P. Ryan, Einstein and the humanities (New York: Greenwood, 1987); *Alan J. Friedman and Carol C. Donley, Einstein as myth and muse (Cambridge: University Press, 1985). Read all student essays, adding graffiti whenever appropriate. "The New York times editorial: A mystic universe, January 28, 1928" and Jose Ortega y Gasset, "The historical significance of the theory of Einstein" [1922], in L. Pearce Williams, ed., Relativity theory (New York: Wiley, 1968), pp. 129-30, 147-57. *Holton, Gerald. "Einstein's influence on the culture of our time." In idem, Einstein, history and other passions, Chapt. 6. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1996. |
| Nov 21 |
Science and the French Revolution (Team 1 reports) |
| Nov 26 |
Science and the Russian Revolution (Team 2 reports) |
| Dec 3 |
Science and Nazi Germany (Team 3 reports) |
| TBA |
Final Examination |