Admission requirements
Sufficient background & interest in philosophy and/or history of science.
Description
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, something important happened to the way Europeans understood the world. This shift in understanding has conventionally been called “the Scientific Revolution.” But some modern scholars deny that such a thing ever happened. In this course we will approach the Scientific Revolution from a broad historiographical perspective, with a focus on the discipline of history of science but drawing also on intellectual history and history of philosophy. We will also be seeking to move beyond our stereotypes about what “science” is, by inquiring about the various ways in which people in times and places different from our own have struggled to know the physical and social worlds. The issues that we consider will help us gain a fuller sense of what it meant to know nature in the period we call the “scientific revolution.”
Course objectives
Course objectives will be made available on Blackboard at the start of the course.
Timetable
See Rooster BA Wijsbegeerte 2010-2011
Mode of instruction
Lectures and seminars
Assessment method
two compulsory presentations during the semester;
two shorter papers;
term paper;
oral class participation.
Blackboard
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Reading list
- John Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science. 2nd ed. Palgrave, 2002.
Registration
Please register for this course on uTwist. See registration procedure
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply
Aanmelden voor Contractonderwijs via: e.klumper@phil.leidenuniv.nl
Contact information
Remarks
Specialisations: History of Philosophy; Theoretical Philosophy.