Fall 2009
Last modified: August 12, 2009
Aug 25 |
Introductory material A copy of the syllabus is available here. |
Aug 27 |
Scientific Revolutions and Conceptual Change We will be discussing the concept of revolutions in science and the work of Thomas Kuhn. Key People: Kuhn; Laktos; Popper. Key Concepts: Theory; Hypothesis; Fact; Cohen's stages of a revolution; Pre-science; "Normal" Science; Crisis; Paradigm; Incommensurability; "Conjecture & Refutation"; Research programmes; Suggested Reading to clarify some issues from class:
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Sep 1 |
The Scientific Revolution saw a radical change in the means by which knowledge was generated and disseminated. We're going to concentrate on astronomy and look at how the developement of instruments and experiments influenced the development of scientific thought. Key People: Copernicus; Brahe; Kepler; Galileo; Bacon; Hooke; Key Concepts: The Scientific Revolution; Ptolemaic system; Copernican System; |
Sep 3 |
We are going to concentrate on the life of Isaac Newton and his monumental Principia. Key people: Newton; Hooke; Leibnitz; Key concepts: Conic sections; Centripetal force; "active principles"; inverse-square law; mass; laws of motion; universal law of gravitation; vortices; gravity as fact, pathway & mechanism; Required reading:
Suggested reading for the Newtonophile:
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Sep 8 |
Natural theology, or natural religion, the inferring of the existence and characteristics of the Christian god from observations of nature, has a long tradition. The argument can actually be traced back to Plato and Aristotle and was christianized by Thomas Aquinas. Natural theology received a boost during the Scientific Revolution with the writings of such individuals as Isaac Newton but reached its most elegant expression in Paley's 1802 work. William Paley (1743 - 1805) was an English churchman and author of popular apologetic works. One of these - Natural Theology - begins by making his famous watchmaker argument; just as the complexity of a watch implies a watchmaker, so too the complexity of living things implies a designer. The latter portion of the book (and the majority of our reading) attempts to argue for the attributes of God from observations of nature. Key people: Newton; Paley; Hume Key concepts: Natural theology; a priori and a posteriori proofs; evidentialism; Theism vs Deism; mechanical philosophy; Paley's argument as abduction to the best explanation; Paley's argument as argument from analogy; Argument to/from design; Hume's critique of natural religion; The problem of evil; Required reading: |
Sep 10 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Sep 15 |
Key people: Stensen; Ussher; Smith; Hutton; Anning; Buckland; Mantell; Lyell; Key concepts: Stratigraphy; Ways of reconciling scripture with geology; discover of dinosaurs; actualism; uniformitarianism |
Sep 17 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Sep 22 |
As background to examining Darwin's theory of descent with modification through natural selection, we will look at the broad outline of Darwin's life. Key concepts: evolution as fact, pathway & mechanism; the origin of Darwin's ideas; Darwin's religious views; |
Sep 24 |
Key people: Darwin Key concepts: The logic of natural selection; Analysis of selection; Sexual selection; Darwinism Required Reading:
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Sep 29 |
Key people: Arnhart; Hamilton; Trivers; Key concepts: Evolution of ethics; altruism; kin selection; reciprocal altruism; naturalistic fallacy; |
| Oct 1 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Oct 6 |
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? Key concepts: Whether or not there was a Darwinian Revolution and what form did it take. |
Oct 8 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Oct 13 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Oct 15 |
Mid-term examination The examination will begin at 10:30 sharp and you will not be allowed take the examination if you arrive late. Please bring a #2 pencil and your student ID card. |
Oct 20 |
Key people: Lavoisier; Stahl; Priestley; Scheele; Cavendish; Key concepts: Phlogiston; combustion; calcination; oxygen; importance of nomenclature; conservation of matter; stoichiometry; Lavoisier's chemical revolution; Required Reading:
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Oct 22 |
Key people: John Dalton, Dimitri Mendeleev, Marie Curie, J. J. Thompson, Ernest Rutherford Key concepts: Dalton's Atomic Theory, Radioactivity, Alpha Particle, gold foil experiment, Thomson's plum pudding model |
Oct 27 |
Key people: James Watt, Sadi Carnot, James Joule, Emile Clapeyron, William Thompson, Rudolf Clausius, W.J. Rankine Key concepts: Conservation of Energy, Imponderable Fluids, Heat Engine, 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics
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Oct 29 |
Key People: Einstein, Liebniz, Clark, Eddington Key concepts: special relativity, general relativity Required reading:
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Nov 3 |
Key people: Einstein; Bohr; Schrodinger Key Concepts: Causal vs statistical interpretation of nature; Einstein/Bohr methodological dispute; Schrodinger's cat |
Nov 5 |
Key people: Joly; Buffon; Kelvin; Huxley; Chamberlain; Holmes; Patterson; Key concepts: salt clock; cooling of the Earth; problems with theromodynamic method; isochron dating; Required Reading: |
Nov 10 |
Key people: Wegener; Holmes; Key concepts: (evidence for) continental displacement/drift; plate tectonics; subduction; cooling Earth model; reasons for different reactions to continental drift; |
Nov 12 |
Key people: Einstein; Friedman; Lemaitre; Leavitt; Hubble; Gamow; Hoyle Key concepts: Cepheid variables; Cosmological constant; Hubble's Law; Big Bang v Steady State; Cosmic Microwave Background; End of the universe; Evidence for the Big Bang. Required reading:
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Nov 17 |
Key people: Galileo; Haeckel; Draper & White; Key Concepts: The Merton Thesis; Theistic evolution; The new physics and religion;
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Nov 19 |
Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading:
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Nov 24 |
Climate Change and the Nature of Scientific Consensus Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Nov 26 |
No class (Thanksgiving) |
Dec 1 |
Key People: C.P. Snow; E.O. Wilson; Paul Feyerabend; Key concepts: Changing representations of scientists; The two cultures; Wilson's consilience; Epistemological anarchism; Social constructionism; SSK; The Sokal Affair; Required Reading: |
Dec 3 |
Science Literacy Key People: Key concepts: Required Reading: |
Dec 8 |
Final Examination The examination will begin at 10:30 sharp and you will not be allowed take the examination if you arrive late. Please bring a #2 pencil and your student ID card. |
