PHIL 3710: History and Philosophy of Science, Part I: from Aristotle to Galileo
Dr. Timothy McGrew, Fall 2011
Required and
Supplementary Texts: The
following texts are required:
McGrew,
Alspector-Kelly, and Allhoff, eds., The
Philosophy of Science: An Historical Anthology,
hereafter abbreviated as PS
Galileo
Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two
Chief World Systems, hereafter abbreviated as Dialogue
Additional reading may be
handed out in class or made available online at the course webpage:
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~mcgrew/honhps1_2011.htm
In addition, material will be
presented in class lectures that is unavailable in any
other form. All of this additional
material is fair game for tests and quizzes.
The readings for each week
sometimes contain supplementary reading that may be useful but is not required.
The principal sources for this reading are:
Carl Boyer, The History of the Calculus and its Conceptual Development
(1959)
I. Bernard Cohen, The Birth of a New Physics,
2nd ed. (1985)
Michael Crowe, Theories
of the World from Antiquity to the Copernican Revolution, 2nd ed. (2001)
Samuel Sambursky, The Physical World of the Greeks
(NY: Collier, 1956)
Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield, The Fabric of the Heavens (1999)
All of these books are
available in the Waldo Library.
Course Description: This course is an exploration of themes in the history and philosophy of science, with special attention to the life and work of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler and Galileo. Beginning with the necessary background in the physics and astronomy of Aristotle, we will study the development of the modern view with an eye to the conceptual and epistemological problems encountered in the transition to the new physics and astronomy, culminating with a close reading of most of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. In order to keep the course within manageable bounds, we will focus primarily on astronomy and dynamics, though there will be interesting sidelights thrown on mathematics as well as biology, chemistry and other branches of science.
Course Requirements: This course meets Tuesday and Thursday of each week from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. except for the days noted on the course schedule. I expect you to arrive on time; a pattern of late arrival will be reflected in your course grade. Late assignments cannot be made up without a medical excuse except in very unusual situations. Because important material for papers and quizzes may be presented in class lecture that cannot be found elsewhere, it is imperative that you come to class and take careful notes. You are responsible to obtain notes from another student in the class if you miss a day.
Attendance and quality (but
not necessarily quantity) of class participation are taken into account in the
determination of the final grade. In particular, I reserve the right to subtract half of a letter grade from the final
grade for each unexcused absence beyond the third. If you must miss
class because of a medical or family emergency, please let me know at the
earliest possible time and provide written documentation.
There is a fair amount of reading
assigned for this course. This includes a large number of primary
sources—documents that were written by philosophers and scientists to describe
their speculations and experiments rather than simplifications written by
journalists or popularizers. These are the documents from which the history of
science is constructed. Most of them do not require specialized knowledge
beyond the occasional use of a bit of geometry or high school algebra, but they
do require concentration. Students are
expected to come to class having already done the reading indicated on the
syllabus and may be subjected to unannounced quizzes on that material.
General Education: This course may be used to satisfy General Education Area VII (Natural
Science and Technology).
Course Objectives: This course is
an exploration of themes in the history and philosophy of science, with special
attention to the life and work of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler and Galileo. Beginning with the
necessary background in the physics and astronomy of Aristotle, we will study
the development of the modern view with an eye to the conceptual and
epistemological problems encountered in the transition to the new physics and
astronomy, culminating with a close reading of most of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two
Chief World Systems. In order to keep the
course within manageable bounds, we will focus primarily on astronomy and
dynamics, though there will be interesting sidelights thrown on mathematics as
well as biology, chemistry and other branches of science.
Electronic Devices: The use of electronic communications and media devices, including but
not limited to CD players, iPods, handheld games, cell phones, and laptop
computers, is forbidden during class time. Digital or tape recording devices
may be used to record class lectures and discussion with the permission of the
instructor. Cell phones must be turned off. If
your cell phone rings during class, you will be required—without answering
it—to speak for five minutes regarding the assigned reading for the day, and
the quality of your presentation will be taken into account in the
determination of your final grade for the course.
Academic Integrity: You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the
academic policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog (http://catalog.wmich.edu) that pertain to student
rights and responsibilities. These policies include cheating, fabrication,
falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity, and
computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in
academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial
Affairs. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you
believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing.
You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic
honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
Accommodation for disabilities: Any student with a documented disability (e.g.,
physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange
reasonable accommodations must contact Ms. Beth Denhartigh at 387-2116 or at beth.denhartigh@wmich.edu at the
beginning of the semester. A disability determination must be made by this
office before any accommodations are provided by the instructor.
Assignment
Weight Breakdown: There
will be seven scheduled assignments for this course, consisting of three essays
and four sets of reading questions. These
assignments will contribute toward your final grade according to the following
weights:
|
Best
Essay Score: |
0.25 |
|
Other
Essay Scores: |
0.40 (0.20 each) |
|
Reading
Question Sets: |
0.40 (0.10 each) |
A moment’s
calculation will show that these weights add up to 1.05 (105%) rather than
1.00. This provision builds in a small measure of extra credit. In addition,
your best score is given slightly more weight than the other two scores. There
will be no other opportunities for extra credit.
Grading Scheme: All assignments will be graded on a 4 point scale—that
is, from 0 to 4 inclusive. While there is great variability in the qualities
that make for a particular grade on a given assignment, the following
guidelines will give you some idea of how the scale works:
A
4 indicates a performance of exceptional quality. The student has demonstrated
mastery of all the material necessary to complete the assignment.
A
3 typically indicates a consistently strong performance, though the work may be
lacking in some details or in a particular aspect of the assignment.
A
2 typically indicates minimal satisfactory performance. The student has
demonstrated some understanding of the core concepts, but there are significant
errors, gaps in comprehension, or flaws in the writing.
A
1 indicates an insufficient performance. The student has demonstrated a small
amount of understanding, but there are serious deficiencies in the work
submitted.
A
0 indicates a performance that has failed to demonstrate even a rudimentary
understanding of the material on which the assignment is based.
A
score of -4 indicates that the student did not complete the assignment or did
not complete the assignment in a minimally reasonable manner. (Anyone who makes
an honest effort to complete an assignment will find it very difficult to earn
this score.)
Grades
somewhere between two of the above marks may be given if, in my judgment, the
quality of the work falls somewhere between two of the levels above. For all
written work, both the content (clarity, completeness, argumentation)
and the mechanics (spelling, grammar, style) count toward the grade.
The
following grading scale will be used for this course:
|
3.75-4.00 |
A (93-100) |
1.75-2.24 |
C (73-77.9) |
|
3.25-3.74 |
BA (88-92.9) |
1.25-1.74 |
DC (68-72.9) |
|
2.75-3.24 |
B (83-87.9) |
0.75-1.24 |
D (60-67.9) |
|
2.25-2.74 |
CB (78-82.9) |
< 0.75 |
E (< 60) |
I
reserve the right to give a negative score (as low as -4) for assignments not
submitted or submitted but done in a manner demonstrating less than reasonable
effort.
Instructor Contact Information:
Email
(best): timothy [dot] mcgrew [at] wmich [dot] edu
Phone (269) 387-4364.
Course Schedule
The following schedule is
tentative. Because the material is difficult, some of it may take longer than
the indicated time. You are expected to do the readings in accordance with the
sequence of topics even if we are off schedule. Any alterations in exam dates
will be announced in class ahead of time.
Some of the links for
handouts will not become visible until the appropriate time in the semester.
This is not a bug: it is a deliberate feature of the syllabus. Therefore, you
should check the web address at least weekly. If a link is not working for you
and you think that it should be, you should email me immediately.
|
Date |
Topic |
Handouts, |
Assignments |
|
|
Sep |
06 |
The relation
between history of science and philosophy of science. The Victorian view of pre-modern
science. |
|
|
|
|
08 |
Atomism: The background to Aristotle. The theory of the elements. Democritus’s cone paradox. |
Background: PS, Part I Intro, sections 1-3 (pp. 5-8) PS, Unit I Intro, sections 1-4 (pp. 13-18) Primary Sources: Diogenes Laertius,
Atoms and Empty Space, PS 1.1 Epicurus, Letter to
Herodotus, PS 1.2 Lucretius, The Explanatory
Power of Atomism, from De Rerum Natura,
PS 1.11 Secondary Sources: Handout on the four elements * Toulmin and Goodfield, ch.
2 * Sambursky, 180-2
(cone paradox) * Boyer,
chs. 1-2 |
|
|
|
13 |
Aristotle’s cosmology: The potency of place; plenism and the
critique of the atomist theory of the void. |
Primary Sources: Aristotle, the potency of
place, Physics IV, 1
and 12 Aristotle, critique of the notion
of a void, Physics IV,
6-8 Secondary Sources: Butterfield on the Aristotelian
system as it came into the middle ages, from The Origins of Modern Science, 29-33 * Cohen, 24-35 |
|
|
|
15 |
The shape, size,
and structure of the earth in the Aristotelian system. |
Primary Sources: Secondary Sources: Butterfield on the Aristotelian
system as it came into the middle ages, from The Origins of Modern Science, 29-36 |
|
|
|
20 |
Aristotelian cosmology: the size and structure of the heavens. |
Primary
Sources: Eudoxus on the structure of the
heavens, in Aristotle, Metaphysics XII, 8 Sosigenes objecting
that Eudoxus’s spheres
do not save the phenomena, in Simplicius, Commentary on
Aristotle’s De Caelo Three links on Eratosthenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch? http://www. http://www.astro.cornell.edu/ |
|
|
|
22 |
|
Secondary
Sources: C. S.
Lewis on the size
and structure of the medieval cosmos, in The Discarded Image,
97-9 * Archimedes on
the size of the heavens, The Sand Reckoner *
Crowe, chs. 1 & 2 |
Essay #1 due: Ancient
and medieval views on the shape and size of the earth. |
|
|
27 |
Aristotle’s dynamics.
Motion as derivative and communicated by contact. |
Primary Sources: Aristotle
on natural motion, De
Caelo I, 2-3 [RQ on De Caelo I, 2-3] Aristotle, fragments from De Caelo and
Physics [RQ on fragments from De Caelo and Physics] |
|
|
|
29 |
Natural motion and the
question of explanation; the Aristotelian proportion. |
Primary Sources: Aristotle
on the
proportion between force and motion, Physics VII, 5 [RQ on Physics VII, 5]; cf. De Caelo 273b 30 - 274a 2 Aristotle on
ballistic motion and air, Physics IV, 8 *
Aristotle, Physics VIII, 9, 265a, on the primacy of circular
motion, quoted in Sambursky, 109-10 Secondary
Sources: * Toulmin and Goodfield,
ch. 3 * Cohen, chs.
1 and 2 * Boyer, 14-48 |
|
|
Oct |
04 |
The Ptolemaic system: epicycles, eccentrics, and equants. |
Background: PS, Unit I Introduction, sections 5-6 (pp.
18-20) Primary
Sources: Ptolemy, Almagest I,
3, 4, 6, 7, PS 1.12 |
|
|
|
06 |
The scientific
case against a moving earth. Criticisms of the Ptolemaic system |
Maimonides
against the reality of epicycles and eccentrics, from Guide of the
Perplexed II, 24, PS 1.16 Buridan denies the reality of
epicycles but affirms that of eccentrics, Questions on the
Metaphysics of Aristotle XII, questions 10-11 Secondary Sources: * Crowe,
ch. 3 * Toulmin and Goodfield, chs.
4-5 |
|
|
|
11 |
Aristotle from late antiquity to the high middle ages: critiques
and modifications. The
rise of impetus theory in John Philoponus. The condemnation of 1277. |
Primary Sources: Philoponus on free
fall, PS 1.15 [RQ on Philoponus on
free fall] Buridan on the theory
of impetus, PS 1.17 * Tempier, Condemnation of 1277,
selections, in Grant 45-9 |
|
|
|
13 |
The conceptual
clarification of a heliocentric model in Buridan and Oresme. The Merton school and the
clarification of accelerated motion. |
Oresme on the
possibility of a rotating earth, PS 1.18 * Heytesbury on the mean speed rule
developed at Merton College, Oxford, Rules for Solving
Sophisms * Oresme on the proof of the mean
speed rule, Treatise on the Configuration of Qualities and
Motions III, vii, 251-3 |
|
|
|
18 |
The achievement
of Copernicus |
Primary Sources: Cardinal Schonberg, Letter to Copernicus Secondary Sources: * Crowe, 82-99 * Toulmin and Goodfield,
169-80 * Cohen, ch. 3 * Butterfield, The Origins
of Modern Science, 36-48 |
|
|
|
20 |
The question of
realism. Osiander’s unsigned preface. |
Osiander, Unsigned Letter
to the Reader, PS 2.2 Copernicus, On the
Revolutions, Preface and book I, PS 2.3 |
|
|
|
25 |
The gradual
acceptance of the Copernican system. The
“Golden Chain” argument. |
Primary Sources: Selected reactions to Copernicus:
Appreciation of the
“Golden Chain” argument Rheticus, the nature and
grounds of the Copernican system, PS 2.1 Thomas Kuhn, an unsympathetic
evaluation of the “Golden Chain” argument, from The Copernican
Revolution, 178, 180-1 |
|
|
|
27 |
Empirical
problems with Copernicus’s model. Tycho Brahe: his observations and his compromise. The nova of 1572 and the comet of
1577. |
Primary Sources: Tycho Brahe, De Nova Stella PS 2.4 Secondary Sources: * Crowe, ch. 7 * Toulmin and Goodfield, 182-9 |
|
|
Nov |
01 |
Kepler’s achievements. The Cosmographical Mystery: cosmology as geometry. Kepler’s use of Tycho’s data. |
Secondary Sources: *
Crowe, ch. 8 * Toulmin and Goodfield, 198-209 *
Cohen, 127-47 |
|
|
|
03 |
The great retroduction: On the Motion of Mars. Kepler’s defense of realism in
astronomy. The unification of
astronomy and physics. |
Primary Sources: Kepler, selections from
correspond-ence and works, PS 2.5 Kepler, on arguments about
a moving earth, PS 2.6 Kepler, on eight minutes of
arc, PS 2.7 Secondary Sources: Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, excerpt online |
|
|
|
08 |
Galileo’s
telescopic discoveries and their impact on Copernicanism. |
Primary Sources: Galileo on the moon and the
satellites of Jupiter, Siderius Nuncius Secondary Sources: * Crowe, ch. 9 * Toulmin and Goodfield,
189-98 * Cohen, ch. 4 |
|
|
|
10 |
Reception of
the telescope among astronomers and theologians. |
Primary Sources: Martin Horky’s letter to Kepler,
April, 1610 Secondary Sources: * James Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo. |
|
|
|
15 |
Galileo the
polemicist. Controversies with Scheiner and Grassi. Galileo’s conceptual defense of the
new astronomy. |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Excerpts
from The Assayer, PS 2.8 Galileo, Letter to the
Grand Duchess Christina, excerpts |
|
|
|
17 |
The Dialogue:
Dedicatory letter to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; letter to the discerning
reader. The “Galileo affair.” |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Dialogue,
3-7 Secondary Sources: *
Toulmin and Goodfield, 218-21 * Cohen, ch. 5 |
|
|
|
22 |
Natural motion and
Aristotle’s logic; heavenly changes and Aristotle’s empiricism; human and
divine understanding. |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Dialogue,
3-66; 113-21. Secondary Sources: * Toulmin and Goodfield,
210-27 * Cohen, 81-126 |
|
|
November
23-27: Thanksgiving Break |
||||
|
Nov |
29 |
The role of Aristotle’s
authority; rotation, simplicity, and probability; the case against
terrestrial rotation. |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Dialogue,
123-73 Secondary Sources: * Toulmin and Goodfield,
228-49 |
|
|
Dec |
01 |
Vertical fall,
superposition of motions, and the role of experiments. |
|
|
|
|
06 |
The deception of the senses
and the relativity of motion; heliocentrism and the telescope. |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Dialogue,
288-98; 370-95 |
|
|
|
08 |
Stellar dimensions and the
concept of size; stellar parallax. |
Primary Sources: Galileo, Dialogue,
416-32 |
|
|
December
12-16: Final Examination Week |
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