History 81: History of Science from the Renaissance to 1800, Fall 1999



An investigation of the conceptual and institutional development of the scientific enterprise. Although the changing content of scientific thought in its intellectual context provides the major focus, substantial attention is paid to the relationship between scientific developments and social and economic conditions.

Professor Judith V. Grabiner, Office: Fletcher 222, phone 7-3160, secretary 7-3061, email jgrabiner@pitzer.edu, Office Hours: To be announced, and by appointment

Required books:
Steven Shapin, The Scientific Revolution (U. of Chicago)
Descartes, Discourse on Method
I. B. Cohen and R. Westfall, eds., Newton (Norton)
Londa Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex (Harvard)
Dava Sobel, Longitude (Penguin)
I. Bernard Cohen, Science and the Founding Fathers (Norton)
Readings for History 81 (available from Huntley)
Recommended (on reserve):
Thomas L. Hankins, Science in the Enlightenment (Cambridge)
Also you may wish to visit my home page on the Web, and follow the links there to various history of science sources: www.pitzer.edu/~jgrabine.

Course policies: (Please read these now!)
(1) You are responsible for any assignments, handouts, revisions of calendar, etc., made or given in class. Please check with me or with a classmate should you miss class.
(2) Attending class, participating in discussions, courtesy to your classmates, will be taken into account in borderline grade situations. Besides, these things will add to your learning.
(3) Late work will be penalized 10% for each day that it is late. [Exceptions for compelling reasons (e.g., illness) must be requested by the due date. Leave a message on my machine,73160, or on email.]
(4) Grading will be as follows: Midterm (short-answer) 25%, Final (essay) 40%, Other Assignments 35%.

Other Assignments:
(1) For each reading and for each class, bring in a sheet of paper -- TYPED or LEGIBLY printed in ink -- with one sentence -- no more -- answering each of these 3 questions: "What is the main point of this?" (or, if that seems too difficult, "What is this about?" ) "What is an important question the reading raises, or an important question that you have about it?" "What did you personally find most interesting about it?"
(2) Short papers and reports will be assigned in various points in the course as relevant. For instance, you may be asked to write a brief essay on materials read, or to report on some outside reading.
(3) Each student will be required to attend at least THREE out-of-class lectures or other events relating to the subject of the course. (Not straight science lectures, though.) All the lectures of interest I know about will be announced in class; these will include the Science, Technology, and Society colloquium lectures which happen about once a month. If you find a lecture I haven't found, bring me a notice and I'll be delighted to announce it.
A report, NO MORE THAN ONE double-spaced typed page in length, describing the main points, and concluding with your judgment of the value of the lecture, will be required; this is due NO LATER THAN the second class period following the event.
(4) Part of the course's goal is to understand how to approach a historical text. Bring questions if you have them. In addition to the questions in #1 above, it is useful to ask, "How does this author's text relate to others we have read?" and "Who's s/he shooting at?"

Calendar

Week I (Sept.1): "What's up?" readings from Donne, Voltaire, Pope, Blake, Condorcet, to be handed out

Week II (Sept.6,8) : Read Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, parts 1 and 2

Week III (Sept.13,15): Texts on Method. Read Descartes, Discourse on Method (all), and, from the Readings for History 81 Packet, Francis Bacon, selections from "Novum Organum," from E. Burtt, ed., The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill, pp. 28-42, 84-87, and Galileo, Discoveries and Opinions, from "The Assayer," pp. 231-232, 237-238.

NOTE: Class will not meet Monday, Sept. 20, which is Yom Kippur.

Week IV (Sept. 22): Science: Biology. Read William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and the Blood in Animals, pp. 22-24, 32-46, 86-93, from the Reading packet.
More on method: Read Thomas Hobbes, from "Leviathan," in Burtt, English Philosophers, pp. 129-132, 143-148, from the Reading packet, and Newton pp. 111-126, from the Norton anthology Newton.

Week V (Sept.27,29): Introduction to Newtonian science.
Read Maclaurin, from Account of ... Newton's Philosophy, 274-281, 122-126 in Norton book
Read Newton, System of the World, 253-281 in Norton book

Week VI (Oct.4,6): Newton on light, 167-191 in Norton book
Newton's speculative ideas, 39-55 in Norton book

Week VII (Oct.11,13): "The Real Thing": Newton's Principia, 219-247 in Norton book
Newton's theology, 327-342 in Norton book

Week VIII: Fall Break on Monday; Midterm, Wed., Oct. 20

Week IX (Oct.25,27) : Evaluating the Scientific Revolution and its Social Context. Review Shapin, parts 1 and 2, and now read Part 3.

Week X (Nov.1,3) : Student short reports (topics and suggested readings will be assigned, based on student interest)

Week XI (Nov.8,10) : Women in 16th-18th-century science. Schiebinger, all

Week XII (Nov.15,17) : A case study in science and technology in the 18th century: Sobel, all

Week XIII (Nov.22,24): Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist 10, to be handed out.
Read Cohen, Science and the Founding Fathers, chapters 1-2.

Week XIV (Nov.29,Dec.1): Cohen, chapter 5, and Supplements. Read first part of Richard Olson, Science Deified and Science Defied, volume 2, pp. 191-205, from Reading packet, on Montesquieu. Handout from Montesquieu.

Week XV (Dec.6,8): Monday: Finish Olson in Reading packet, 205-235, on Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith. Handouts from these authors.
Wednesday: Free-for-all. What does it all mean?

Final Examination: Friday, December 17, 2 P.M.