Spring 2000 Prof. Donald deB. Beaver

MWF 10:00-10:50 a.m. 117 Bronfman (XT 2239)

Scientific facts and theories affect our beliefs about our world, about our selves, and about how we think we should live. Since its 16th century creation in the West, "modern" science has become the epitome of authoritative and objective knowledge. What have been the critical periods of change in the structure of scientific knowledge, and what effects have those changes had on other sciences, as well as the non-scientific world?

This course aims first at determining the key concepts of the paradigm formations or shifts characteristic of scientific revolutions. Just what does constitute Copernican (Keplerian) astronomy, Newtonian (Galilean) physics, [Lavoisierian chemistry, Lyellian (Huttonian) geology,] Darwinian (Wallacean) biology, and modern physics (quantum theory and relativity)? What evidence is there to support those paradigms, and how adequate and reliable is it? What countervailing views did the "modern" science replace?

The second aim of the course is to try to determine how, and to what extent, science and society interacted to form the "modern world view." That is, in terms of the sensibilities and values which we moderns (Westerners) have, what scientific foundations are there? For example, what do we take for granted as constituting certain fact, and what consequences spring from that?

Class sessions will be a mixture of discussion of the assigned readings, which students should have read in advance, and lectures providing additional material.

The following are the required texts for the course:

H. Butterfield The Origins of Modern Science

B. L. Cline Men Who Made a New Physics

I.B. Cohen Birth of a New Physics

J.C. Greene The Death of Adam

There is additional xeroxed material to read as well, in a course packet obtainable ca. Feb. 16 at cost from Mrs. Alice Seeley, Bronfman 189.

Grades will be based on two short papers [3-5 pp], 5 problem sets, two hour exams, and a final quiz, with about 25%, 30%, 40%, and 5% of the final grade deriving from each category respectively. Class participation [attendance, quality and frequency of contributions] may affect the final grade.

Appended to the outline of classes is a brief bibliography of some of the better works covering some of the course topics. In writing the 2 short papers, in lieu of choosing a topic, students relatively unacquainted with the history of science may find it easier and more informative to select a book from the list (or a suitable substitute work approved by me), and write a 3-5 page critical review of it.

The following is a schedule of classes and assignments:

1. Fri., Feb. 4 Introduction

2. Mon., Feb. 7 The Medieval World View - a Lecture.

Everything you need to know to satisfy the Division

III requirement at a medieval university.

Background to the Copernican Revolution

3. Wed. Feb. 9 Basic Astronomical Phenomena and Planetary Models.

Packet: "What Every Young Person Should Know about

Naked-Eye Astronomy." and "Astronomical

Coordinate Systems"

4. Fri., Feb. 11 Astronomical Models. Qualitative and

quantitative. "Saving the Appearances."

5. Mon., Feb. 14 Planetary Astronomy and the Ptolemaic

Paradigm. A model of success for 1500 years.

Cohen, 25-35, "The Earth and the Universe"

6. Wed., Feb. 16 Strains in the Fabric: Social Change and

DUE Cohen, 24-25; 35-45, "The Earth and the Universe"

Fri. Feb. 18 No Class

========== WINTER CARNIVALWEEKEND ============

7. Mon., Feb. 21 Copernicus v. Ptolemy. The Copernican

Butterfield, 29-48, "The Conservatism of Copernicus"

Cohen, 45-52, "The Earth and the Universe"

Packet, "Equivalence of Geocentric/Heliocentric"

8. Wed., Feb. 23 Consolidation and Change: An Overview.

[Brahe, Kepler, Galileo.]

Butterfield, 67-88, "The Downfall of Aristotle and

Ptolemy"

Cohen, 53-80, "Exploring the Depths of the Universe"

[B,K,G; telescope; Sidereus Nuncius]

9. Fri., Feb. 25 Kepler’s Laws; Heavenly harmony and

Pythagoreanism.

Cohen, 127-147, "Kepler's Celestial Music"

10. Mon., Feb. 28 The Old Physics of Motion: Aristotle. Impetus.

Cohen, 3-23: [Ch. 1 & 2]. "The Physics of a Moving

1st PAPER Earth," and "The Old Physics"

DUE Butterfield,13-28, "The Historical Importance of a

Theory of Impetus"

Packet, Excerpt from Aristotle's Physics

11. Wed. Mar. 1 The New Physics: Kinematics - the ‘how’ of

motion.

Cohen, 81 - 126, "Towards an Inertial Physics"

Packet, "Accelerated Motion" [Galileo]

12. Fri., Mar. 3 The New Physics: Kinetics - the ‘why’ of

motion.

Cohen, 81-126, "Towards an Inertial Physics"

13. Mon. Mar. 6 The New Physics Completed. Galileo’s Trial.

Problem Set 2

DUE

14. Wed., Mar. 8 The New Scientific Method of the Seventeenth

Butterfield, 89-150, "The Experimental Method in the

Seventeenth Century," "Bacon and Descartes," and

"The Effect of the Scientific Revolution on the

Non-Mechanical Sciences"

Packet, "Opticks," [Newton]

15. Fri., Mar. 10 Newton. His life. The apple myth.

Cohen, 148-184, "The Grand Design -- A New Physics"

Butterfield, 151-170, "The History of the Modern

Theory of Gravitation"

Packet, Heuristic 1/r2; Huyghens; Moon-Apple

16. Mon., Mar. 13 The Grand Design: Newton's Principia.

Contents, Laws, Rules of Reasoning.

Problem Set 3 Packet, Excerpts from Principia

DUE

17. Wed., Mar. 15 Finishing Up. Considerations and Reflections.

Butterfield, 171-202, "The Transition to the

Philosophe Movement in the Reign of Louis XIV," and

"The Place of the Scientific Revolution in the

History of Western Civilisation"

Packet: "The Newtonian World Machine" [Randall]

18. Fri., Mar. 17 Hour Exam

-------------------------Spring Vacation----------------------------

19. Mon. Apr. 3 Revolutions in Chemistry

Butterfield, 203-221, "The Postponed Scientific

Revolution in Chemistry"

20. Wed., Apr. 5 Revolutions in Cosmogony - the Origins of

Greene, 1-13, "Setting for Conflict";

15-37, "The Inconstant Heavens"

21. Fri., Apr. 7 The Development of Modern Geology

Greene, 39-87, "A Wreck of a World"

22. Mon., Apr. 10 The Creation of Paleontology

Greene, 89-127, "Lost Species"

23. Wed., Apr. 12 Establishing Order: New Taxonomies

Greene, 129-173, "From Monad to Man"

24. Fri., Apr. 14 Primates, and the Origin of Human Races

Greene, 174-199, "Man’s Place in Nature"

201-219, "The Perfectible Animal"

221-224, "The Origins of Human Races"

25. Mon., Apr. 17 Darwin - The Triumph of Chance and Change

Problem Set 4 Greene, 249-307, "The Triumph of Chance and

DUE Change"

26. Wed., Apr. 19 The Debate over Human Evolution; Critiques

of Darwin’s Theory

Greene, 309-339, "Darwin and Adam"

27. Fri., Apr. 21 The Darwinian Revolution - Reception and

Paper #2 Due Class Discussion, Presentations, Review

28. Mon., Apr. 24 The Convergent Century.

29. Wed., Apr. 26 The Beginning of Modern Physics: Rutherford to

Cline, 1-63, "Ernest Rutherford: Discovery of the

Nucleus," "Ernest Rutherford: Radioactivity,"

"Max Planck: Pursuit of an 'Absolute,' the Entropy

Law," "Max Planck: The Quantum Theory"

30. Fri., Apr. 28 Einstein and 1905

Problem Set 5 Cline, 64-87, "Albert Einstein: Work of 1905"

DUE

31. Mon., May 1 Special and General Relativity

Cline, 219-234, "Albert Einstein: The General Theory

of Relativity"

32. Wed., May 3 Hour Exam

33. Fri., May 5 Bohr and the Theory of the Atom

Cline, 88-126, "Niels Bohr: Early Quantum Theory of

the Atom," "Early Days of Quantum Physics"

34. Mon., May 8 Copenhagen, and the Creation of Quantum

Cline, 127-191, "Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg,

and Bohr's Institute," "An Introduction to Modern

Quantum Theory," "Creation of Quantum Mechanics"

35. Wed., May 10 The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics; The

Cline, 192-218; 235-244, "Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics," "The Debate between Niels Bohr and

Albert Einstein"

Cline, 245-259, "Afterward"

36. Fri., May 12 Quiz. Retrospect. SCS.

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Brief Bibliography

(more or less synchronic with the course)

T.S. Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

P. Thagard Conceptual Revolutions

Peter Barker & Revolution and continuity

Roger Ariew eds

D.C. Lindberg & Reappraisals of the scientific revolution

R. S. Westman eds.

S.Mason A History of the Sciences

T.S. Kuhn The Copernican Revolution

A. Koestler The Sleepwalkers

A. Koyre From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe

A. Armitage Copernicus

J.Dreyer Tycho Brahe

E.J. Dijksterhuis Mechanization of the World Picture

H. Kearney Science and Change, 1500-1700

A.R. Hall From Galileo to Newton

A.R. Hall The revolution in science, 1500-1750

L. Jardine Ingenious pursuits : building the scientific revolution

P. Redondi Galileo Heretic

R. Westfall Never at Rest

R. Westfall The Construction of Modern Science

S. Drake Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo

I. Newton Principia

G. Galileo Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World

G. Galileo Discourses on the Two New Sciences

I. Newton Opticks

Steven Shapin The Scientific Revolution

H.M.Leicester The Historical Background of Chemistry

D. McKie Antoine Lavoisier

David Knight Ideas in chemistry : a history of the science

Dean, Dennis R. James Hutton and the history of geology

S. J. Gould Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle

M. Greene Geology in the 19th Century

L. Eiseley Darwin's Century

G. Himmelfarb Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution

C. Darwin The Origin of Species

P. Appleman,ed. Darwin (Norton Anthology, 2nd ed.)

A.Desmond & Darwin

J. Moore

Bowler, Peter J. The non-Darwinian revolution

D. Kevles In the Name of Eugenics

Stephen G. Brush The history of modern science : a guide to the second

scientific revolution, 1800-1950

Mary Jo Nye Before big science : the pursuit of modern chemistry and

physics, 1800-1940

T.S. Kuhn Black Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity (tech.)

V. Guillemin The Story of Quantum Mechanics

B. Hoffman Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel

W. Heisenberg Physics and Philosophy

A. Pais Subtle is the Lord: the Science and the Life of A. Einstein

E. A. Burtt The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science

G. Holton Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein

P.J.Bowler The Eclipse of Darwinism

J. D. Watson The Double Helix

A. N. Whitehead Science and the Modern World

H.F.Judson The Eighth Day of Creation

LeGrand, H. E. Drifting continents and shifting theories