LFU:online

Büro VizerektorIn für Lehre und Studierende Büro VizerektorIn für Lehre und Studierende

assoz. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Metschl assoz. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Metschl, +43 512 507 40206

800926

History of Science

SE 2

2,5

wöch.

jährlich

Englisch

Discussion of the development and the transformations of the standards of scientific rationality in the history of science from antiquity to the present. Specific attention will be paid to possible lessons for contemporary debates on the future directions of science.

Science and its findings have spurred hopes as well as anxieties. But the expectations regarding scientific achievements reflect not only the different and historically contingent attitudes of different times, they also shed light on the evolution or development of scientific norms and standards.

The individual sessions will provide opportunities to discuss the writings of authors ranging from the 17th century (Francis Bacon) to the present (Rachel Carson, Alan Weisman) with respect to changing attitides towards science. The guiding idea behind these discussions is to come to a better understanding of how the criticial method of science gained (and lost) momentum in the course of history.

Seminar with students’ presentations plus discussions in class

Presentations

Thomas S. Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Patricia Fara: Science. A Four Thousand Year History.

Francis Bacon: Novum Atlantis.

Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population.

Rachel Carson: Silent Spring

(The full reading list will be introduced ath the beginning of the course.)

13.03.2014