Fall 2004 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 536
Theology after Darwin MW 11:45-1:00 (Ashley)
3 Cr. Hr. Crosslist: THEO 536
Graduate Students Only/Permission Only
Prereq: HPS 569

This course will be an upper-division undergraduate/graduate level survey of attempts by Christian theologians (both Protestant and Catholic) to come to grips with the challenges raised by the Darwinian revolution. We will begin with an overview of the role of the so-called argument from design in eighteenth and nineteenth century Christian theology. Then we will consider two paradigmatic late nineteenth-century reactions to Darwin, that of Charles Hodge (What is Darwinism?) and of John Zahm, C.S.C. (Evolution and Dogma). From there we will study the largely negative mood of the early-twentieth century (with the exception of the liberal theology of Shailer Matthews and other members of the University of Chicago Divinity School), with particular attention to the rise of creationism. We will conclude by looking at three influential contemporary responses to Darwin: the modified creationist attack on Darwinism represented by the so-called intelligent design argument; the use of Darwin to attack the coherence of Christian faith by figures such as Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins; and the argument by John Haught and Denis Edwards (building on Teilhard de Chardin) that the Darwinian revolution can in fact support and enrich Christian faith and theology.

This course will presume and build on much of the materials treated in HPS 569/STV 469. Students who have not taken the earlier course may enroll in this one with the instructor’s permission, but this permission should be sought early enough so that students can work through a reading list from the first course.

Advanced graduate students in the HPS program or the MTS program in Theology will be expected to complete a take-home midterm, and a research paper. New HPS/MTS students and undergraduates will be asked to complete two take-home midcourse exams and a final. Auditors are welcome, but must register for the course. Student presentations will help introduce some of the materials.

HPS 560
Intro to History of Science H 3:30-4:15 (Staff)
3 Cr. Hr.
Graduate Students Only

This course is intended as a required supplement for HPS graduate students taking either History 555 (The Historian's Craft) or Philosophy 501 (Proseminar). It serves as a prerequisite for further graduate course work in history and philosophy of science. Concentration will be on the special methodological and historiographical issues in the history and philosophy of science including examination of the post-Kuhnian traditions in the history and philosophy of science, introduction to research techniques, and guest appearances by HPS faculty.

Readings will be drawn from current periodical literature in the history and philosophy of science.

HPS 561
The History of Science, Technology & Medicine, Antiquity to 1750 MW 3:15-4:45 (Goulding)
3 Cr. Hr.
Crosslist: MI 561H, HIST 561
Graduate Students Only

This course initiates a two-semester survey of the main events in the history of natural philosophy, technology, and medicine from Greek antiquity to the early Enlightenment. The first half of this course will begin with Presocratic reflections and carry the course to the Renaissance. The second half will deal with the scientific revolution and the science of Galileo, Harvey, Descartes, Boyle, and Newton extending approximately to 1750.

Requirements will be two take-home examinations and a final.

HPS 581
Philosophy of Science TH 2:00-3:15 (Howard)
3 Cr. Hr.
Crosslist: PHIL 581
Graduate Students Only

A survey of major problems, movements, and thinkers in twentieth-century philosophy of science. The course begins with a look at the historical background to logical empiricism, its rise to prominence, and its early critics, such as Popper. After a study of major problems in the neo-positivst tradition, such as confirmation, explanation, and the nature of scientific laws, historicist critiques of neo-positivism, chiefly Kuhn's will be studied next, followed by a consideration of the realism-instrumentalism debate. The course concludes with a brief look at new perspectives, such as social constructivism and feminist philosophy of science.

Requirements: Students will write mid-term and final essay examinations and a fifteen-page term paper on a topic to be chosen in consultation with the instructor.

Readings: Thomas S. Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Additional readings will be contained in a course packet.

HPS 583
Philosophy of Biology W 5:00-7:30 (Moss)
3 Cr. Hr.
Crosslist: PHIL 583
Graduate Students Only

This seminar will focus on four very active research areas in contemporary philosophy of biology: the concept of the gene, phenotypic plasticity and Baldwinism, Evo-Devo, and the concept of natural function. Each unit will entail an intensive look at the current literature with the aim of providing students with the requisite background for writing a publishable paper in any of these areas.

Students will be expected to lead class discussions and to write one research paper with the expectation of eventual journal submission in mind.

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

Thesis direction for terminating Master's students.

HPS 663
Topics: The Life Sciences and the Scientific Revolution (Sloan)
NEWS FLASH: This course will now be taught as a directed readings course under the direction of Phil Sloan. Please enroll under HPS 697, sec. 01.
3 Cr. Hr.
Graduate Students Only
Permission Required

Examination of selected topics in the life sciences of the Scientific Revolution period. The course begin with the work of Aristotle and Galen, and move into the work of Harvey, Descartes, Boyle and the interactions of the life and physical sciences in the early modern period. Readings will include: Jacques Roger, et al. The Life Sciences in Eighteenth-Century French Thought (Stanford University Press).

The course is restricted to graduate students and the primary requirement will be student reports and the preparation of a research paper.

HPS 668 Turner
Colloquim in British & American Intellectual History 1650-1800 3 Cr. Hr.
1:30-4:00 H
Cross-listed: HIST 668
Permission required

Readings in selected topics in Anglo-American intellectual history from the late seventeenth century through the late eighteenth. Though suitable for graduate students who intend to offer an examination field in Anglo-American intellectual history, it is by no means intended solely for them.

"Anglo-American intellectual history," as used here, comprises those discourses common to Britain and anglophone North America. This does not preclude occasional French or German voices. Examples might include sensationalist psychology, evangelical Calvinism, Newtonian physics, republicanism, and Scottish common-sense philosophy. I have aspired to a focus on problems that were nodes of change rather than an even-handed survey. Inevitably, in this period the primary reading tilts toward British authors.

The course will meet weekly for discussion of common assigned readings. Essays, based on the assigned readings, will also be required: the character of these to be worked out individually with the instructor.

HPS 697
Directed Readings

Directed Readings carried out under individual HPS faculty supervision.

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.

Dissertation research for Ph.D. students.