History and Philosophy of Science

After completing this course students are able to:
1.           understand historical and philosophical foundations and development of the disciplines in the Science domain.
2.           critically read and evaluate texts from the history and from the philosophy of science.
3.           independently form and express, in speech and writing, views on the historical development and philosophical foundation of the concept of science in different contexts.
4.           synthesize ideas from the history and philosophy of science in class discussions and in essays.

Relationship between assessment and learning goals:

Assessment Element	Learning goal
Class participation	1, 2, 3, 4
Midterm paper	2, 3, 4
Final paper	2, 3, 4
Presentation	1, 3, 4
Round table discussion	1, 4

Contents
This course delves into questions of what science is and what scientific disciplines are, of how our modern concept of science and the foundations of scientific disciplines were developed. Indeed, the ways in which scientific knowledge is produced and philosophical ideas of what can be considered scientific knowledge have a history. This course, then, aims to give a partially integrated history and philosophy of science by looking at the different scientific disciplines taught at UCU and discussing a historical case that shaped them. For each discipline, we will describe the actual practice of science and philosophical debates about what counts as science. We will try to relate both to each other, and we will argue that both should be understood in the broader historical context of the time.

Format
We will meet two times a week. The first meeting of the week will serve as an introduction to the topic and a guide to the reading of a source text. The second meeting will be structured around a discussion of the reading and a historical and/or philosophical debate based on the source text. After an introductory week, we will be discussing a different Science discipline each week. Once we have discussed each Science discipline, we will briefly visit the Humanities and Social Science domains, which will bring us to a final week on interdisciplinary research.
Students will submit a midterm paper on a topic from the class and a final paper on a topic of the student’s choice. This final paper also involves an individual paper consultation session and a presentation to the class. Towards the end of the course, we will have a round table discussion, which students will prepare for in small groups.