Phil 210 covers history and philosophy of science from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, through the Greco-Roman period, the Islamic period, medieval Europe, and finally to the culmination of the ancient cosmology on the eve of the Scientific Revolution. Students acquire a thorough understanding of the ancient “Unified Field Theory”, in which all disciplines of natural philosophy were interconnected—astronomy, biology, physics, medicine, proto-chemistry, astrology, etc. Philosophical questions from epistemology and metaphysics that concern the possibility of scientific knowledge are emphasized. Students learn how the aristocratic Greek disdain for mechanics and craftsmen prevented a technological or industrial revolution in the ancient world—in spite of the fact that they possessed the knowledge to have accomplished this. Islamic contributions to science are underscored, because they are still little known or appreciated in the West. The foregoing represents about 5/6 of the semester.
With the advent of Copernicanism and Vesalianism, as well as the critique of ancient knowledge during the Renaissance, the ancient unified worldview began to crumble, and was replaced (eventually) by the modern perspective. The trajectory of the entire course leads to the final 1/6 of the semester, which is a critique of the ancient cosmology. This takes the form of the final group project, the Trial of Galileo, where students, portraying different historical characters, and bringing their knowledge of the ancient cosmology to bear, debate the manifold issues involved in the confrontation between Galileo and the Church. In this way students acquire a much deeper appreciation of the scientific revolution (which is discussed in detail in Phil 211) than they might have otherwise.
Unusual aspects of Phil 210 include: hands-on projects, including constructing and using astrolabes and natal charts; detailed discussion of science in Islamic civilization and its legacy to the West; and the role-playing in the Trial of Galileo re-enactment.
