PHIL 2130: Philosophy of Science
Lectures on early-modern philosophy of science
Reading
Assignment for 23/9:
Use the
following texts to gain an understanding of the series of important scientific
developments known as the ‘Scientific Revolution’.
Prepare a
list of between 5 and 7 main figures, their main ideas and/or
inventions/discoveries in the ‘Scientific Revolution’ and BRING IT TO
CLASS.
How many
different fields of scientific study can you identify during this period? (the more the better!)
What kinds
of questions were philosophers of nature (no one called them ‘scientists’ in
the early-modern period) trying to answer?
Why were
many of these questions being asked for the first time?
Why was
this an exciting time to be doing philosophy?
Francis
Bacon, New Atlantis and The Great Instauration,
J. Weinberger, ed. Revised ed. Harlan Davidson, 1989. (Dept)
Peter Dear,
Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions,
1500-1700. Palgrave, 2001
(Main Library). (chs. 1, 3, 7)
Stephen
Gaukroger, Francis
Bacon and the transformation of early-modern philosophy.
Lisa
Jardine, Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution, 1st
ed. (Nan A. Talese, 1999) (Main Library).
Steven Shapin, The Scientific Revolution (Univ. of Chicago Press,
1996). (Dept and
Main Library) (esp. chs. 1-2).
You may
also consult this website: www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/eyer/aam/
Lecture programme:
Lecture I:
What was the Scientific Revolution?
Discussion of items you found in your research
Lecture II:
Method and epistemology in early-modern science (Shapin ch. 2; Dear, ch. 7;
Gaukroger, ch. 5, Bacon, Great Instauration, pp. 1-16; Jardine, ch.7)
Lecture
III: Organization of early-modern science (handout on the Royal Academy of
Sciences, Paris, Statutes of 1699; Bacon, New Atlantis, esp. pp. 71-79)
Lecture IV: Goals and purposes of early-modern science (Bacon, Great Instauration, pp. 16-32; Gaukroger, ch. 1; Shapin, ch. 3; Jardine, Introduction).