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标签：history of science

Lectures on the General History of Science 15: A Special Topic in the History of Mathematics (The Mathematical Revolution)

History of Science & Technology2015.06.12
Lectures on the General History of Science 15: A Special Topic in the History of Mathematics (The Mathematical Revolution)
Today is the penultimate class, so let me first talk a little about the course assignments. For this course, the requirements are a midterm reading report (optional) + a final paper. I have currently received four midterm reading reports, and I should already have replied to all of them by email. If you sent one but did not receive my reply, please send it again, or try another email address. Under normal circumstances, I should send a confirmation reply within two or three days, and I may also discuss some specific issues in the assignment with you by email. The point of assigning the reading report is to encourage everyone…
history of science course mathematics Scientific Revolution
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2015年6月12日
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 14: Science and the Industrial Revolution [Starting Next Week, We’ll Move to a Different Classroom]

History of Science & Technology2015.06.05
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 14: Science and the Industrial Revolution [Starting Next Week, We’ll Move to a Different Classroom]
First, a quick notice: we still have two classes after this. The classroom will be changed for these two sessions; it seems that the entire Jiao Eight building has been requisitioned by the school. Next week and the week after next, we will move to Jiao Nine201for class. Last time we mentioned that in the eighteenth century, the development of theoretical science, experimental science, and industrial technology was still relatively independent; theoretical science did not directly drive the Industrial Revolution, and even theory and experiment were out of sync. Last time, one student raised an objection and showed me a clip from *The Rise of Great Powers* and…
history of science course Scientific Revolution Industrial Revolution
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2015年6月5日
Lectures on the General History of Science 13: Science in the Age of Enlightenment

History of Science & Technology2015.05.28
Lectures on the General History of Science 13: Science in the Age of Enlightenment
Today we are talking about eighteenth-century science. From the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 to the French Revolution in 1789, the eighteenth century can be said to have been a century of transformation in history. The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution both took place in this century, and the independence of the United States and the rise of Russia also both occurred in this century. But in terms of the history of science, the eighteenth century seems to have been a relatively uneventful period. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before it were the sweeping and magnificent Scientific Revolution; and the nineteenth century is called the century of science, with…
technology history of science course Kant
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2015年5月28日
Lectures on the General History of Science 12: Discussion Session

Teaching & Courses2015.05.22
Lectures on the General History of Science 12: Discussion Session
This week was the long-anticipated discussion class, so there was no lecture script~ There are 15 students enrolled in this course, but in practice only about half can usually make it. This time was the same: a total of 7 students came, and only 6 actually took part in the discussion. Even so, the discussion turned out pretty well. At least everyone had something to say, and we used up the whole class period. What is somewhat regrettable is that I feel my course has had very little impact on the students. For example, one student asked why ancient Greek science, which also originated in a tendency toward theory, eventually…
history of science history course Christianity
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2015年5月22日
Lectures on the General History of Science 11: Alchemy and the Scientific Revolution [Next Week’s Class Discussion]

History of Science & Technology2015.05.14
Lectures on the General History of Science 11: Alchemy and the Scientific Revolution [Next Week’s Class Discussion]
Last class, we finished the mechanical revolution all the way up to Newton. The problems in physics provoked by Copernicus’s astronomical revolution were ultimately solved by Newtonian mechanics, but Newtonian mechanics itself implied a certain conceptual transformation amounting to sleight of hand: the distinction between nature and artifice, the distinction between inwardness and outwardness, and the boundary between physics and mechanics were all finally broken through, and the introduction of the concept of “force” ultimately substituted itself for people’s search for “cause.” We said that Newtonian mechanics is accidental in name; of course we could equally have had something like Empedology or Zhang San Dology, and F=ma could be replaced…
history of science course Scientific Revolution nature
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2015年5月14日
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 9: The Copernican Revolution

History of Science & Technology2015.04.30
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 9: The Copernican Revolution
Last time we talked about printing as the technological environment of the Scientific Revolution. Starting from this lesson, we will formally enter the period of the Scientific Revolution. Last time we mentioned that, when talking about the Scientific Revolution, we must at least distinguish three lines of development: first, astronomy; second, physics. These two lines converge in Newton, and can together be called the tradition of the mathematical sciences; this also constitutes the so-called “main line” of the Scientific Revolution in the usual sense. The third is alchemy and magic. This line stretches back farther than Copernicus and Newton; although its emblematic result is the rise of chemistry, its significance…
history of science philosophy of science course Scientific Revolution
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2015年4月30日
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 7: The Middle Ages and Christian Science

History of Science & Technology2015.04.17
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 7: The Middle Ages and Christian Science
After finishing with the Arabs and China, let us return to the West and talk about medieval science. As for the Middle Ages, I was wondering whether I should spend two classes on them, because traditionally this period has been rather neglected; people probably know very little about it, yet in fact it is extremely important. To discuss why modern science did not arise in the Arab world or in China, on the one hand we have to talk about what was lacking in Arab and Chinese civilization, and on the other hand we must also make clear what medieval Europe actually had. In this lecture we will mainly talk…
history of science scholarship education course
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2015年4月17日
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 6: Special Topics in the History of Chinese Science

History of Science & Technology2015.04.09
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 6: Special Topics in the History of Chinese Science
This time we are treating the history of Chinese science as a special topic. This subject does not lie within the lineage of Western science, so it is relatively difficult to discuss: there is a great deal of material on the history of Chinese science, but it is itself very scattered, and it is hard to summarize or to筛选 out what counts as core content. So this class may also be relatively free-ranging; what I mainly select are some points that can be set in contrast with the formation of Western science. We know that ancient China achieved a great many scientific accomplishments. Our primary and secondary education, as well…
China history of science course Scientific Revolution
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2015年4月9日
Lectures on the General History of Science 5: Roman and Arabic Science

History of Science & Technology2015.04.03
Lectures on the General History of Science 5: Roman and Arabic Science
Last class we talked about Hellenistic science, represented by Ptolemaic astronomy; Western classical science reached its peak in the Hellenistic period. The next peak would have to wait until the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, from Copernicus to Newton. The period in between is relatively less exciting, but our general history course cannot very well skip over it, and this period is also one we are comparatively unfamiliar with. Before the Scientific Revolution, we must at least discuss three strands: first, the Arabs; second, China; third, Christian Europe. The Arabs took up the torch of Greek science and also made distinctive contributions, laying the groundwork for Europe’s…
science history of science course Aristotle
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2015年4月3日
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 2: The Prehistory of Science

History of Science & Technology2015.03.12
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 2: The Prehistory of Science
In the last class we mentioned the historiography of the history of science, including different historiographical strategies such as intellectual history and social history. We cannot take science as a ready-made, fixed standard and sit in judgment on history from the lofty vantage point of modern people. We need historical consciousness, and we should try to return to historical contexts in order to understand how things developed. The concept of “science” itself is not ready-made and fixed either; in different perspectives and different contexts, it has different meanings. Every historiographical strategy for the history of science embodies some understanding of what science is. For example, intellectual history tends to see…
history of science philosophy of science course civilization
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2015年3月12日