Course Description
The history of early science beginning with some major ancient and medieval natural philosophers and historians, and ending with the Scientific Revolution of the 1500s and 1600s, which decisively shaped western civilization.
Athena Title
HIST ANCIENT SCIENC
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Homer and the natural world The pre-Socratic philosophers: natural science The pre-Socratic philosophers: epistemology The sophists and the "soft" sciences Astronomy Geography (Hecataeus, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy) Mathematics (Pythagoras, Euclid) Biology (Aristotle) Medicine (Hippocratic Corpus; Galen) Engineering