Time Schedule:
Bruce W Hevly
HIST 311
Seattle Campus
From preclassical antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages, stressing the growth of scientific ideas, the cultural context in which they take shape, and their relationship to other movements of thought in the history of civilization.
Class description
This course is an introduction to the history of science from prehistory to the early seventeenth century, and to the means by which historians of science construct such narratives. It will begin with the idea of science as a culture's systematic worldview, dependent on a view of nature in context, by looking at cosmological ideas in prehistory. The course will then look at the creation of natural knowledge in Egypt, Mesopotamia, classical Greece and Rome, early Islam, medieval and renaissance Europe. We will look at questions of cause and effect related to astronomy, optics, mathematics, the sciences of motion, biology and medicine, and relate them to cultural contexts.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Lectures and discussions; student responses in the form of participation in discussion, written work.
Recommended preparation
No background in history or science is assumed; this is an introductory course.
Class assignments and grading
Lecture course with weekly discussion sections. Students will be expected to understand the basic narrative of the history of science within the contexts given above, how to make contextual arguments about science, and the kind of critical questions and methods used to revise the established story. Grades will be assigned based on ability to communicate this understanding on essays and exams.
