History and Philosophy of Science before Newton:
Focus on Premodern Cosmology & Cultures

GNSC 312, Tentative Syllabus, Spring 1998

| History and Philosophy of Science Home Page | Course Requirements | Course Schedule |

Instructor	Office	Phone	Hours	Email
Dr. Mike Keas	119-C	878-2098	M2-4, W2-3	Mike_Keas@mail.okbu.edu
Prof. Kerry Magruder	202-X	878-2166	tba	KVMagruder@aol.com
Science Division Office, Cindy Guinn	202	878-2028	always	Cindy_Guinn@mail.okbu.edu

• Course Requirements
  
  
• Course Schedule, with links (forthcoming) to Focus Questions
  
  
• Internet Links for the History and Philosophy of Science
  
  
• Internet Links for General Science, including Ethics and Research
  
  
• Natural Sciences Division Home Page
  
  
• OBU Planetarium Home Page
  

Email

This is a tentative list of students and faculty who will participate in the design and implementation of this new course. Dear students and faculty, email Mike Keas if you want us to add your name to this list and thus take part in our course design discussions by email.

• All Participants
  
  
• Ben Randell
  
  
• Mike Keas
  
  
• Kerry Magruder
  

Required Books, GNSC 312 Spring 1998

• David Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious and Institutional Context. 600 BC to AD 1450 (University of Chicago Press, 1992). "Lindberg presents the first-ever history of ancient and medieval science in a single volume, portraying religion not as an uninvited intruder in scientific tradition, but as a legitimate player." This is a quotation from the Templeton Prize for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences (Lindberg's book is one of the inaugural year Templeton Prize winners).
  
  
• Steven Shapin, The Scientific Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1996). Shapin's opening line identifies his book as a provocative survey of early modern science: "There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it." Interpretations of early modern science always have been contentious. Shapin's sociologically-informed text is helpful not only in surveying early modern science in cultural context but also in analyzing what is made of it then and now.

  Although the changes in the 16th and 17th centuries contributed to the development of fundamentally new ways of investigating nature, recent scholars have recognized a surprising degree of continuity between early modern science and the science of the Renaissance and Middle Ages.
  
  

Recommended Books, GNSC 312 Spring 1998

• Michael J. Crowe, Theories of the World from Antiquity to the Copernican Revolution (Dover, 1990). Crowe provides a challenging survey of western astronomy and cosmology to Galileo. "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here" (advice that once was inscribed above the entrance to Plato's Academy).
  
  
• Norriss S. Hetherington, ed., Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientific Perspectives (Garland, 1993). Hetherington and the other scholars who contributed to this volume have assembled a coherent and stimulating survey of cosmology, both western and non-western. This collection of essays shows how cosmology is an excellent window into some of the core worldview commitments of a culture. The book also demonstrates the value of understanding cosmology in cultural context--even our own contemporary western cosmology. Indeed, readers will appreciate how science as a whole, although more susceptible to observational tests than many other intellectual creations, also is best understood as part of our culture.

How will GNSC 312 Focus on "Cosmology and Cultures" in 1998?

• The Spring 1998 offering of GNSC 312 is an entirely new history and philosophy of science course that will treat many of the premodern themes of our "Cosmology and Cultures" planetarium project. See the brief descriptions of the required and recommended texts below to better appreciate the aims of this course.
  
  
• We encourage any OBU faculty who are selected for collaboration in the "Cosmology and Cultures" project to sit in on our class. See the "Cosmology and Cultures" application form by following the links from the project home page.
  
  
• Students, we invite you to consult Mike Keas' Professional Development Plan in order to place GNSC 312 and the "Cosmology and Cultures" planetarium project in a larger professional development context. This might be particularly helpful to Honors students who are searching for a thesis advisor (based on a knowledge of faculty expertise and current professional activities).
  
  

Will GNSC 313 Focus on "Cosmology and Cultures" in 1999?

• Yes, GNSC 313 (History and Philosophy of Science since Newton) will also take up a special focus on modern "Cosmology and Cultures" in the Spring of 1999. See the tentative syllabus.
  
  
• Tentatively, in the 1999 GNSC 313 course we plan to briefly review non-western cosmologies before Newton and then focus most of our attention on western cosmologies since Newton. The Hetherington volume on cosmology will function as the main text (Norriss S. Hetherington, ed., Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientific Perspectives along with the first volume of the ground breaking collection of scholarly essays in Facets of Faith and Science, which Christian Scholar's Review asked Mike Keas to review. Facets of Faith and Science are the published proceedings of Pascal Centre's First International Conference (1992), which Kerry attended. The Centre's Second International Conference, Science in Theistic Contexts, will also be held on site in Ancaster, Ontario. Kerry and Mike plan to give papers at this conference. Mike will be the principal designer of this course which will focus on the history and philosophy of science (especially cosmology) after Newton.
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  Mike Keas, Assistant Professor of Natural Science, Unified Studies Natural Science Coordinator

  PhD *History of Science, *University of Oklahoma. At *Oklahoma Baptist University since 1993
  Courses: *US Natural Science *311 & *312 & *History/Philosophy of Science
  Director: *Planetarium's Cosmology and Cultures Project (1997-2001)
  Email: *mike_keas@mail.okbu.edu, Internet: *Vita-Home
  *Division of Sciences & Mathemathics

©1998

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