Spring 2005 Graduate Courses
  (Previous Semesters)

HPS 500
HPS Colloquium 4:15-5:30 T (Howard)
1 Cr. Hr.
Graduate Students Only

Group Discussion by the HPS faculty and students of a prominent recent work in the field of HPS and research presentations by visiting scholars. Required course for HPS students in first and second years of the HPS Program.

HPS 560
Science & Social Values 11:45-1:00 MW (Kourany)
3 Cr. Hr. Crosslist: PHIL 560
Permission Required

Should science be value free, or should it be shaped by the needs and ideals of the society that supports it? If the former, how can scientists shaped by society contribute to it, and what claim to the resources of the society can scientists legitimately make? If the latter, how can scientists still claim to be objective? These are some of the questions we shall pursue in this course. Their pursuit will take us through a varied terrain--e.g., the growing commercialization of science and other ways in which social values leave their imprint on science, the case of Soviet science under Lysenko and German science under the Nazis, and, most importantly, the relation between facts and values, new understandings of scientific objectivity, and new social philosophies of science--especially those offered by Helen Longino, Philip Kitcher, and Miriam Solomon.

The style of the course will be discussions, and these will be informed by readings drawn from a variety of sources, including natural and social scientists as well as historians and philosophers of science.

Requirements: will include two or three papers.

HPS 562
The History of Science, Technology & Medicine, 1750 to the Present 3:00-4:15 MW
(Hamlin and Stapleford)
3 Cr. Hr. Crosslist: HIST 563
Permission Required

The first half of the course (Hamlin) begins by reviewing the several distinct social contexts of late 18th century science, including its relations to technology and medicine. It will then trace the emergence of academic (or more properly, university-based science), sanctioned by the state and characterized by the emergence of distinct professions, disciplines and/or ways of knowing. This will provide a framework for focusing on transformative concepts associated with nineteenth century science: These will include uniformitarianism, evolution and emergentism, energy and dynamism, randomness and statistics. As it moves into the twentieth century (Stapleford) the course will take up the maturation of the human sciences and their impact on public policy. It will also examine profound changes in physics and biology, and the creation of postwar "big" science, technology, and medicine. The course concludes with the problematic emergence of the technoscience (or postacademic science) in the late twentieth century. Assignments include review essays and mid-term and final exam. Graduate standing or permission of instructor required.

HPS 599
Thesis Direction (Howard)

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

HPS 664
Topics: Human Sciences Natural Theology 1:30-2:45 MW (Hamlin and Stapleford)
3 Cr. Hr. Crosslist: HIST 670
Permission Required

In the first half of this course (Stapleford), we will examine the work of and critical response to Michel Foucault, using him as a focal point for considering how to write histories of the human sciences (i.e., those sciences that study humans and human behavior: economics, psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, etc.).The second half of this course (Hamlin) will examine the relationship between natural theology and natural knowledge.

HPS 686
Historical & Conceptual Foundations of Space-Time Theory 2:00-3:15 TH (Brading)
3 Cr. Hr. Crosslist: PHIL 686

This seminar is an historically organized examination of major issues in the philosophical foundations of space-time theory. The roots of many contemporary debates are found in the spatial and temporal framework introduced by Newton to solve problems in the Cartesian theory of motion and the newly emerging theory of dynamics. We begin with a brief review of this historical background, before turning our attention to the main topics of this course: Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity. We consider the advent of these in their historical context, the contemporary reaction to both theories, and the present day situation. Key conceptual issues, such as conventionality of simultaneity, the "hole argument," and the significance of general covariance, will be considered from both a historical and a modern-day perspective. Reading will include both primary and secondary sources. The course will not assume advanced training in physics. Each member of the seminar will be expected to give a presentation to the seminar and to write a term paper on some topic arising from the readings or seminar discussions.

Directed Readings carried out under individual HPS faculty supervision.

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.