History of the Scientific Revolution
Revised: November 2006
Course Description
A study of the role of science in Western culture from classical antiquity to the seventeenth century. (P3) (Three semester hours)
Objectives
1. To survey the developments, personalities, support, challenges, and cultural impact of science from classical antiquity to the seventeenth century.
2. To further develop the student's ability to conduct research and to write effectively.
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. Dscartes, 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
READING #1: Lindberg, pp. 1-20.
Science in Classical Antiquity
READING #2: Lindberg, pp. 21-45.
READING #3: Lindberg, pp. 46-84.
READING #4: Primary Source Reading: Plato, The Republic and Timaeus (from internet
readings)
READING #5: Primary Source Reading: Aristotle, Metaphysics and De Caelo (On the Heavens)
(from internet readings)
READING #6: Lindberg, pp. 85-110
READING #7: Primary Source Reading: Ptolemy, Almagest (from internet readings)
Roman Science
READING #8: Lindberg, pp. 111-159
READING #9: Primary Source Reading: Galen (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
From Islam to the Latin West
READING #10: Lindberg, pp. 161-214
READING #11: Lindberg, pp. 215-280
The Study of Man and Nature in the Renaissance
READING #12: Lindberg, pp. 281-315 and 355-368.
READING #13: Debus, pp. 1-15 and 34-73; Lindberg, pp. 317-353.
READING #14: Primary Source Reading: William Harvey, On The Motion Of The Heart And
Blood In Animals, 1628 (from internet readings)
Chemistry and Alchemy
READING #15: Debus, pp. 16-33 and 121-130
READING #16: Primary Source Reading: Paracelsus (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
READING #17: Primary Source Reading: Boyle (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
Astronomy
READING #18: Debus, pp. 74-100.
READING #19: Primary Source Reading: Copernicus (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
READING #20: Primary Source Reading: Kepler (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
READING #21: Galileo, Sidereus Nuncius
READING #22: Primary Source Reading: Galileo (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
Scientific Method
READING #23: Debus, pp. 101-121
READING #24: Primary Source Reading: Bacon's New Atlantis (from Hunter Library Electronic
Reserve)
READING #25: Primary Source Reading: Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620) (from internet
readings)
READING #26: Descartes, Discourse on Method, pp. 5-54.
READING #27: Conclusion of Descartes
Mathematics and Physics
READING #28: Primary Source Reading: Galileo (from Hunter Library Electronic Reserve)
READING #29: Primary Source Reading: Newton Principia Mathematica (from internet readings)
READING #30: Primary Source Reading: Newton Opticks (from Interne readings)