This course offers an introduction to the history of the sciences between the late 17th and early 20th centuries, with the aim of understanding the varied ways of knowing that have come to be called "science" and how they have attained such an important status in shaping modern Western culture. To do so, we will both investigate key intellectual developments--such as Newtonianism, theories of energy and matter, and the rise of evolutionary thought--and consider these ideas in the cultural contexts in which they developed to better understand how people have "done science" in different times and places.
Throughout, we will pay attention to the relationships between science and other knowledge systems, between scientists and nonscientists, and between science and state power by exploring the changing nature of scientific authority, the cultural status of the scientist, and the connections among science, commerce, technology, and empire. |