To the New and Continuing Graduate Student
Brief History of the Notre Dame Program
Orientation to the Program
First-year Evaluation
The Departmental Tracks
Philosophy Track
History Track
Fellowship Opportunities, Financial Aid, Travel Assistance
Other Questions
The following guide is to assist you in orientation to the Notre Dame HPS Program. It should be consulted when preparing for registration and in planning your graduate studies. The Notre Dame Program is a unique program among the national programs devoted to the study of science. It is constituted as a "committee-style" program, drawing upon the resources of at least six departments of the University (History, Philosophy, Program of Liberal Studies, Physics, Economics, and English). The Notre Dame program is dedicated to maintaining a fruitful dialogue between the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of science and technology. The opportunity to pursue different emphases within the Program through various "tracks" enables the student to design a unique program of studies.
The University of Notre Dame was one of the first universities in the United States to offer a graduate degree in the joint field of history and philosophy of science. In 1970, an M.A. program was established, and over the years attracted students from a variety of undergraduate backgrounds. Many took the M.A. in history and philosophy of science concurrently with doctoral degrees in philosophy, history or theology at Notre Dame.
In 1989, it was decided to establish a new doctoral degree program in history and philosophy of science. By then, the HPS faculty had grown to sixteen, making it one of the largest in the nation. And the field itself had expanded enormously in the twenty years since the first HPS M.A. students enrolled at Notre Dame. One of the reasons why a doctoral program in HPS was not established earlier at Notre Dame was the conviction that graduates in HPS ought to have a "regular" Ph.D. in philosophy or history in order to compete effectively for positions in the corresponding academic departments. The new program, however, was designed to address this concern. The degree granted is in history and philosophy of science, but students are expected to follow one of two 'tracks' for their doctoral work, specializing either in the history or the philosophy of science. In turn, each track requires a student to incorporate into his or her program of studies a number of the requirements for the doctoral degree as awarded by either the department of history or of philosophy.
The establishment of graduate programs and journals in the joint field of history and philosophy of science reflects a growing realization that history of science and philosophy of science are interdependent, and that they have together achieved critical mass as a doctoral field of study. Thirty years ago, philosophy of science was a specialty taught in some (by no means all) philosophy departments. Its main affinity was with logic. There were a few graduate programs in history of science, but history of science rarely made an appearance in undergraduate course offerings from departments of history.
In the course of the sixties, philosophy of science was transformed, as logical positivism lost its hold and a new, more naturalistic, approach took its place. The relevance to the philosopher of science of case-studies drawn from the history of science was strongly urged, and a profusion of such studies began to appear in print. These were seen by many not just as illustration of philosophical theses about science but as, in some sense, furnishing grounds for the theses themselves. In the seventies, matters became even more complicated, as the social dimensions of science came to be discussed in ever-finer detail. When science was viewed as the characteristic activity of a highly specific historical community, all sorts of challenges to the traditional philosophical understanding were quick to appear.
Something similar has happened to the historiography of science in recent decades. Traditionally, historians of science have emphasized the interplay of theory and evidence; they have set out to construct lineages for the sciences of today in terms that are largely cognitive. In the last few decades, however, the focus of historical inquiry has significantly broadened as science itself has come to be viewed as the complex product of a community that bears the marks of its own place and time. There is, in consequence, a far greater diversity of approaches to the writing of history of science, a much keener debate about what exactly the historian of science ought to be looking out for and a sharper awareness of the difficulties involved in "explaining" a social activity as causally complex as the construction of scientific knowledge. In short, the philosophy of science (certain aspects of it, at least) has become as relevant to the writing of informed history of science as history of science to the writing of philosophy of science.
This is the premise upon which joint graduate programs in the history and philosophy of science are based. As the influence of the sciences and the technologies built on them continues to increase in our society, historians have given more and more weight to studies of the phenomena of science generally. History of science, from being a fairly abstruse specialty, has become an important component in the historical literacy expected of the educated person.
The agenda of the philosopher has been dominated by the challenge of the "new science" for a much longer time, since the time of Galileo and Descartes, in fact. But there can be no doubt that issues raised by the theories and methods of the natural and social sciences continue to be fertile topics for philosophical reflection and inquiry.
A joint competence in the history of science and the philosophy of science is likely, therefore, to be more and more sought after in the years ahead. It is an exciting time in an exciting field. No doubt, HPS will look as different in thirty years time as the field of today looks to that of 1960. Preparing the student for the unpredictable is to some extent the challenge of graduate education generally, but it is more obviously and immediately the challenge of a graduate program in history and philosophy of science.
The Notre Dame program is intended to be flexible enough to meet this challenge. The sixteen faculty now affiliated with the Program in History and Philosophy of Science constitute one of the largest working groups in this joint field. Each year approximately eight graduate courses or seminars are offered within the program. Areas of current strength include contemporary philosophy of science; philosophy of quantum mechanics; medieval science; Renaissance science and the scientific revolution; physics, biology and medicine, 1600-1990; history of the philosophy of science. In addition, students have available a broad range of graduate offerings in the departments of philosophy or history depending on their area of specialization.
An important feature of the program is its attention to the broader relationships between science and culture, and especially to the interrelationships of science and religion. Four of the program faculty have published in this latter area. The interactions between science and religion are, in the first instance, historical and philosophical, so a Program in History and Philosophy of Science located in a university with a strong theology department is clearly a good place to start for anyone with research interests in this increasingly active field. Few programs can match Notre Dame's in its interdisciplinary range, and openness to issues that bridge academic specializations.
At present there are sixteen full-time HPS graduate students in residence. Advanced students have pursued, or are currently undertaking, doctoral research on a wide range of topics, including: the Anthropic Principle in cosmology; the "naturalist turn" in philosophy of science; the roles of probability and locality in determining the meaning of the wave function in quantum mechanics; the epistemic foundations of anti-realism in the philosophy of science; the origins of meteorology in 19th century Britain; the intellectual division of labor in science as a normative issue in debates about scientific methodology from Comte to the Logical Positivists; German engineering culture in the 19th century and its influence on Wittgenstein's early work; religious and philosophical issues in the Darwin debates of the late nineteenth-century; the methodology of Georges Cuvier; the institutional history of molecular biology at the University of Chicago; and the philosophy of science of the astronomer John Herschel.
The opportunity to pursue multiple "tracks" within the Program requires a special design of the individual course curriculum. Typically students have been admitted on either a Philosophy or History track. Some students have pursued the Ph.D in other fields by designing a combined program jointly with other departments (e.g. Theology.) Since you have typically entered the study of science from a variety of preparatory fields, one of the goals of orientation will be to develop some common points of reference. This is accomplished by the readings that you are asked to do prior to beginning your studies (see Preliminary Reading List), by certain required courses, such as the HPS Proseminar, the Philosophy Colloquium, the HPS reading group and lecture series, and by more informal gatherings, such as brown-bag lunches and social events.
The first year in the Program will be an orientation year in which you will learn the skills of graduate study and gain familiarity with the various components of the Program. It is particularly important in this first year that you take advantage of these occasions to develop your awareness and professional competence in the complex field of science studies.
A regular meeting-place for the graduate students and faculty is the weekly HPS colloquium, held each week of the semester, typically on Tuesday afternoons. This traditionally takes the form of a discussion and reading group for the first half of the semester, and a visiting speakers series for the remainder. Each semester a book is chosen by the students and faculty for reading and discussion. Typically we will deal in a three-semester sequence with a recent work in the philosophy of science, a work in the history of science, and one from the broader area of science studies, including the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), science and values, the history and philosophy of technology, or science and religion. New graduate students will register for this colloquium and they are expected to participate regularly in the readings and discussions. More advanced graduate students will often be asked to lead one of the sessions. For example, recent works have included such texts as John Brooke, Science and Religion; Gooding and Pinch, The Uses of Experiment; Jonathan Lear, Love and its Place in Nature, H. Floris Cohen, The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry; Philip Kitcher The Advancement of Science; Abner Shimony, Search for a Naturalistic World View; and Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion.
To further assist you in your orientation to the Program, during the first year of study you will be assigned to the advising of the HPS Program Director. During this year, we will also be working to determine your specific interests to enable you to be assigned a graduate "mentor" in the second year, chosen on the basis of a probable fit of interests. This individual will assist you in designing your curriculum and introduce you to areas of research and disciplinary specialization. This may also include assistance in preparing for the examinations. It is important that you consult with the HPS Program Director regularly as well as with the Graduate Advisor of your "track" department in planning your course of studies.
Entering HPS students are evaluated by the HPS faculty at a meeting after the end of the first year of studies. At this time the suitability of the student for further work toward the Ph.D. is determined, based in large measure on the performance in course work. Typically a performance level of 3.3 is considered necessary. Students will be informed in writing by the HPS Director of the results of this evaluation. Students discontinued at this time will be eligible for a second year of support to complete a terminal MA degree.
Students are admitted into the program in one of two departmental tracks, History or Philosophy, depending on interest and background preparation.
Those who elect the philosophy track toward the Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science must satisfy the following course distribution requirements, including the completion of 72 hours of credit. In HPS, they will take a minimum of three courses in the general area of philosophy of science and four courses in history of science. The student will work with the program director in selecting the courses best suited to his or her interests and strengths. In addition, students will be required to satisfy a slightly modified form of the philosophy graduate program's requirements namely, a minimum of one course in each of the following areas: logic, history of ancient philosophy, history of medieval philosophy or science, and history of modern philosophy, and in two of the following three areas: ethics, metaphysics and epistemology. Only certain courses within philosophy satisfy these requirements, and students on this track should be certain that the courses for which they enroll count toward these requirements. Students may also be advised to take some extra work in one of the sciences, if this seems necessary for the specialized research they are planning. The language requirement for Ph.D. candidates in the philosophy track is a reading knowledge of two foreign languages.
In the summer after the second year of coursework the HPS student will take a written comprehensive examination in the history of philosophy, administered by the Department of Philosophy. In the first semester of the fourth year, the student will take an oral comprehensive in the philosophy of science, with a special focus on the problem area in which he or she intends to write a dissertation, administered by five faculty members appointed by the HPS program director in consultation with the student and the Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy.
A requirement of the philosophy department is the submission of a major paper in philosophy, typically developed from a paper done for a course, that will be due in the late summer after the third year of work for HPS students. The Philosophy Department Graduate Guide should be consulted for details.
In late summer after the third year, the student will take a written qualifying examination in history of science. This will include examinations in the four following areas in the history of science: (1) ancient-medieval-early modern natural philosophy; (2) history of physical science, 1700-1910; (3) history of life science, 1700-present; (4) science-technology-society (including history of medicine and technology). [For reading list, click here.]
Once Ph.D. candidacy requirements have been completed, the student will begin preparation of a dissertation proposal under the guidance of a research director. The thesis evaluation committee, consisting of five faculty chosen jointly by the HPS program director, the student's research director, and DGS in Philosophy, will approve, reject, or request modifications in the candidate's proposal. Approval of this proposal completes the requirements for Advancement to Candidacy.
When approved, the student will prepare a dissertation which must be approved by the director and three readers, normally drawn from the committee which approved the original proposal. If the dissertation is acceptable, a defense is arranged. The defense committee is comprised of at least the dissertation director, the three dissertation readers and an outside chairperson appointed by the Graduate School. After the defense and ensuing discussion, the committee decides by majority vote whether the defense of the dissertation project has been satisfactory, and determines whether any revisions of the dissertation are required as a result of weaknesses revealed in the oral defense. A typical Philosophy Track program is as follows:
First Year: On Fellowship, no teaching duties
| Fall | Spring |
| HPS Proseminar (HPS 560) | 1 | History of Science | 3 |
| HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 | HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 |
| History of Science | 3 | Philosophy Elective (e.g., Analytic Phil.) | 3 |
| Philosophy of Science | 3 | Philosophy of Science | 3 |
| Philosophy Proseminar (PHIL 501) | 1 |
Second Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| Philosophy of Science | 3 | Specialty Elective (e.g., Physics) | 3 |
| HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 | HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 |
| Philosophy Elective (e.g., Logic) | 3 | History of Science | 3 |
| Specialty Elective. (e.g., Physics) | 3 | Philosophy Elective (e.g., Epistemology) | 3 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Following Summer: History of Philosophy Qualifying Examination
Third Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| Specialty Elective (e.g., Physics) | 3 | Philosophy Elective (e.g., Metaphysics) | 3 |
| History of Science | 3 | Directed Readings | 3 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Following Summer: History of Science Qualifying Examination, "Third Year Paper"
Fourth Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| Research | 6 | Research | 6 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Fall: Philosophy of Science Oral Examinations; Dissertation Proposal
Fifth Year: Dissertation Fellowship
| Fall | Spring |
| Research | 6 | Research | 6 |
Spring: Dissertation Defense
Track Requirements: (72 total hours required)
Philosophy of Science: 4 courses
History of Science: 3 courses
Philosophy Proseminar
HPS Proseminar
Philosophy Electives: 3 courses
Specialty Electives: 4 courses
Languages: Two Languages
History of Science Qualifying Examination
"Third Year" Philosophy Paper
Philosophy Written and Oral Candidacy Examinations
Those who elect the History track toward the Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science must fulfill a series of requirements set both by the HPS program and the Department of History. This will require from the HPS side a minimum of four courses in history of science, and three courses in the general area of philosophy of science. In addition, a student will take at least eight more graduate courses (three of which must be research seminars) in either American, Modern European or Medieval History, some of which can include the history of science or technology. (Seminars are understood to be courses that require substantial research in primary historical sources, leading to a major research paper.)
The basic language requirement for Ph.D. candidates on the history track is a reading knowledge of one modern foreign language. In addition, competence has to be shown either in a second language or in a technical discipline bearing on the student's research work, such as one of the natural sciences. Those pursuing work in the area of Medieval History of Science will normally be expected to satisfy the Medieval Institute Latin Examination.
Students in the HPS history track will have certain modifications of the regular history requirements (See History Department Guide for Graduate Students). Instead of the second-semester MA examination required in several fields, they will take a written comprehensive in history of science at the end of the summer after their second year of course work. This will include examinations in the four following areas in the history of science: (1) ancient-medieval-early modern natural philosophy; (2) history of physical science, 1700-1910; (3) history of life science, 1700-present; (4) science-technology-society (including history of medicine and technology). [For reading list, click here.] At least one course must be taken in the history of science in the four defined areas of history of science (medieval/early modern; history of physical science; history of life science; history of technology).
In the spring of their third year, they will prepare for the Ph.D. candidacy examination in five fields. The examination will consist of two parts, written and oral, set by an examination board composed of five faculty appointed jointly by the HPS program director and the DGS of History. Each examiner will set a two-hour written examination in one of five fields, two of which will be in specialized areas in the history of science and technology, two in other history fields, and one in the philosophy of science. The oral examination will be given shortly after the written and will involve the same five examiners. This examination is intended as a follow-up on the written examination and must be considered satisfactory by a majority of the voting committee.
Once these Ph.D. candidacy requirements have been completed, the student will begin preparation of a dissertation proposal under the guidance of a research director of his or her choice. This is presented to a thesis evaluation committee, consisting of five faculty chosen jointly by the HPS program director, the student's research director, and the DGS of History. The committee can approve, reject, or request modifications in the candidate's proposal. When approved, the student formally has completed the Advancement to Candidacy requirements, and will work under the direction of his or her thesis director to prepare a dissertation. This must be approved by the director and three readers appointed by the HPS program director. (Readers are normally drawn from the committee which approved the original proposal.) If the dissertation is accepted by the readers, the HPS program director arranges for a dissertation defense. The defense committee is comprised of at least the dissertation director, the three dissertation readers and an outside chairperson appointed by the Graduate School. After the defense and ensuing discussion, the committee decides by majority vote whether the defense of the dissertation project has been satisfactory, and determines whether any revisions of the dissertation are required as a result of weaknesses revealed in the oral defense. A typical History Track program is illustrated as follows:
First Year: On Fellowship, no teaching duties
| Fall | Spring |
| HPS Proseminar (HPS 560) | 1 | History of Science | 3 |
| HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 | HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 |
| History of Science | 3 | History Elective | 3 |
| Philosophy of Science | 3 | Philosophy of Science | 3 |
| History Proseminar (HIST 503) | 3 |
Second Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| History of Science | 3 | History of Science | 3 |
| HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 | HPS Colloquium (HPS 500) | 1 |
| Area History I | 3 | Area History II | 3 |
| Philosophy of Science | 3 | Specialty Elective | 3 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Following Summer: History of Science Qualifying Examination
Third Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| Area History III | 3 | Directed Readings | 3 |
| Speciality Elective | 3 | History of Science | 3 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Spring: HPS Qualifying Examination--Five Fields (Spring)
Fourth Year: Teaching Assistantship
| Fall | Spring |
| Research | 6 | Research | 6 |
| Teaching Assignment | Teaching Assignment |
Fall: Dissertation Proposal
Fifth Year: Dissertation Fellowship
| Fall | Spring |
| Research | 6 | Research | 6 |
Spring: Dissertation Defense
Track Requirements: (72 Hours Total Credits)
History of Science: 4 Courses
Philosophy of Science: 3 Courses (500 level)
History Proseminar
HPS Proseminar
Area History: 6 Courses
Languages: One Modern Language and a Second Language or Technical Discipline
History of Science Qualifying Examination
HPS Written and Oral Candidacy Examinations
The HPS Program provides tuition and financial assistance to all admitted graduate students. First year students are given a "no-duties" Graduate fellowship for the first year of study, presuming satisfactory progress in coursework. Second, third and fourth year students will assume the duties of Teaching Assistants in History, Philosophy, or in the Program of Liberal Studies and the Science, Technology and Values programs. They may also be asked to fulfill these duties by administrative work in the Science, Technology and Values program. Assuming satisfactory progress to the degree, students will be awarded a Dissertation Year fellowship without teaching duties in the fifth year. Support is normally not available beyond the fifth year.
Tuition support will be given for the academic year, and there is also funding available for summer courses, which may be used for satisfying language requirements in the summers.
Graduate students will typically be interested in opportunities for prestigious fellowships and opportunities for research in other locations at the advanced dissertation writing stages. The Graduate Student office maintains an up-to-date listing of competitive fellowships for graduate students. New students in the area of HPS should be particularly interested applying to the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program. Although typically applied for in the senior year of College, these are open to new HPS students who have had less than twenty hours of graduate study at time of application. Typical awards are $15,000 per year, plus an institutional allowance for educational, research and travel purposes. Deadlines are typically in early November. Although formally designated to support history of science, these are also open to philosophy of science students.
The Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program Awards provide up to $10,000 for up to four years of graduate study to graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in the arts, humanities, social sciences or a multidisciplinary program with a focus on one of these fields. Open to college seniors and graduate students in eligible fields at any stage of graduate work.
For students in the dissertation stage (upon completion of qualifying examinations and Advancement to Candidacy), there are NSF programs for improvement of doctoral research, applicable in the history and philosophy of science. Other opportunities are provided by the Social Science Research Council Fellowships; the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London awards for study in the United Kingdom. Many other such opportunities exist. A regular listing of current fellowship opportunities is maintained in the HPS office for your review.
Students wishing to deliver papers at professional meetings, including graduate student meetings, can apply for support from the Graduate Student Union with supplementary assistance from the HPS Program. With such support, HPS students in recent years have participated in meetings of the History of Science Society; the annual Mephistos graduate student meetings in the history and philosophy of science; the Mid-Atlantic Seminar in the History of Biology; and the international meeting of the Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology at Leeuven, Belgium. Further information on assistance to participate in such conferences can be obtained from the HPS Graduate Director.
Although summer support has not typically been given, beginning in 1996 there is expected to be some limited funding available on a competitive basis to support a limited number of graduate students during the summer months.
The HPS Program is governed by all University policies concerning Honesty Code and Sexual Harassment policies. Students are urged to acquaint themselves with these as set forth in the Graduate School Guide to Graduate Studies.