Course Identification

Abstract

This course traces how Western civilization systematically explored truths about the world, while tracing what kinds of truths were sought and accepted over the centuries

This course is designed to stand in its own right, but also as an optional "prequel" for the course "Philosophy of Science", providing a historical background without duplicating the material covered in the course "Philosophy of Science" which covers the last (current) few decades.

Lectures’ plan:

1. Introduction - the problems

2. Early Greeks - Pre-Socratics

3. Socrates & Plato

4. Aristotle 1

5. Aristotle 2 and Hellenism

6. After Greece: Rome and the Rise of Christianity

7. Islamic Science

8. High Medieval Europe

9. Debates, Age of Discovery, Copernicus

10. Early Modernity

11. Modern Times - 18th-19th C

12. 19th C - Probabilities

13. 20th C + Summary

The students will be able to recognize in their own scientific work and other's the historical roots of their approaches and methodology

Gower, B. (1996). Scientific Method: A Historical and Philosophical Introduction (1 edition). Routledge.

Kuhn, T. S. (1957). The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Harvard University Press.

Losee, J. (2001). A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, 4th Edition (4th edition). Oxford University Press.

Shapin, S. (2018). The Scientific Revolution. University of Chicago Press.

Watson, P. (2006). Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud. Harper Perennial.