Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
4313223 History of Science: Science, History and Society | OT | 0 | 1 |
It is a mandatory module in the research (academic) itinerary. It trains the students for the research modules (M5 + M9) of the second semester.
How to write the History of Science at the beginning of the 21st century? To answer this complex question, the module provides students with a critical approach to the different schools, themes and problems on which the history of science has been working as an academic discipline. It invites students to draw useful conclusions for their education as historians of science today. It is a historiographical module, in which plural views of a specific event in the past have priority over consensus -the latter being worked in module M1.
The course is organized in two blocks:
A. Methodology and development of the discipline: introduces the student into the bibliography, approaches and research methodology in the history of science. It also provides an overview of the development of the discipline throughout the 20th century.
B. Topics and problems: explores the relationship of science with certain issues and border problems, from a historiographic perspective.
A. METHODOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISCIPLINE
- Presentation. The history of science as an academic discipline: historiographical introduction. Sources and databases.
- The origins of the history of science (I): Sarton
- The origins of the history of science (II): Koyré
- The first sociology: Merton
- Thomas Kuhn and the Cold War
- The cultural and sociological turn (I)
- The cultural and sociological turn (II)
- Final session of block A
B. THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE: THEMES AND PROBLEMS
- Medicine
- Human Sciences
- Technology (I)
- Technology (II)
- Art
- Religion
- Mathematics and engineering (I)
- Mathematics and engineering (II)
- Gender (I)
- Gender (II)
- Oral Presentations
- Environmental history
- Global Science
- Big Science
- STS
- Publics (I)
- Publics (II)
- Global history
- Cultural hegemony studies
- HPS
- Final session
The master classes of the professor prepare a set of readings that are discussed in presentations and debates at class.
The student prepares a historiographical essay during the module based on the weekly readings and debates, as well as his readings.
The students do a text analysis for each block.
The autonomous secondary literature research also allows the student to get acquainted with the historiographical state of the art in the topics and problems of his interest in the history of science.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Master classes | 94 | 3.76 | 1, 8, 7, 15, 2, 9, 10, 13, 12, 3, 17, 16 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Oral presentations and mentoring | 46 | 1.84 | 1, 8, 7, 15, 5, 2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 12, 20, 3, 17, 26, 25 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Personal study, reading, analysis of articles and elaboration of written assignments | 225 | 9 | 1, 8, 7, 15, 5, 2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 12, 20, 3, 17, 16, 26, 25, 24 |
The evaluation will consist in the following activities:
Activity |
Weight |
Elaboration of a historiographical essay (5000 words). The essay will analyze the work of a historian of science and his or her historiographical contribution. A list of eligible works is included in the bibliography. The essay must consist in the presentation of the author (500 words), a summary of the work (1000 words) and the description and discussion of its historiographical approach (3500 words). Once the historiographical approach has been analyzed, it must be critically compared to other approaches to the same topic (placing them in time): what are the implications of the historiographical approach? How does it build its object of study? What are the methodological issues involved? Etc. A model of an article will be provided so that it can set the style and format guidelines in the elaboration of the essay. Formal and linguistic correction will be evaluated. Supervision: a tutor assigned. Evaluation: the coordinators of the module. |
50% |
Oral presentation of the book chosen for the historiographical essay. Brief presentation of the author, the main ideas, and the historiographical approach of the book. Evaluation: coordinators of the module. |
20% |
Text analysis of a classical text of block A (1000 words) Evaluation: coordinators of the module |
15% |
Text analysis of a paper of block B (1000 words) Evaluation: coordinators of the module |
15% |
If a student does not pass the activities, he or she can present a revised version at the end of the module. Oral presentations are not subject to this possibility.
In case that activities and tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on TEAMS, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Elaboration of an historiographical essay | 50% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 1, 8, 7, 5, 22, 2, 11, 9, 10, 13, 14, 20, 3, 17, 18, 16, 21, 26, 19 |
Oral presentation | 20% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 4, 22, 6, 14, 18, 21, 26, 19, 24 |
Text analysis of a classical text of block A | 15% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 7, 15, 2, 13, 12, 27, 16, 26 |
Text analysis of a paper of block B | 15% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 2, 11, 13, 14, 3, 17, 23, 25 |
DATABASE "HISTORY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE"
The UAB has a subscription to the database "History of Science, Technology and Medicine", which includes the bibliographic database of the journal ISIS and the History of Science Society (HSS). We have 4 simultaneous accesses. You can access from outside the campus in the following way:
1) Access the UAB Private Virtual Network http://xpv.uab.cat/ using your NIU and password
2) Click on "Biblioteques" in order to access the website of the Library Services of the UAB
3) Search "History of Science and Technology" in the Catalog of the UAB. Among the results you will find:
History of science, technology, and medicine [Recurso electrónico]
4) Click on this reference and you will find the direct link to the database.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The website of the History of Science Society (HSS) includes a very good bibliographical resource: Reading the History of Western Science: A List of Good Places to Start
DICTIONARIES, GUIDES, ANTOLOGIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS
BYNUM, William F. & Roy PORTER (eds.) (1993). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. London: Routledge, 2 vols.
BYNUM, William F.; BYNUM, Helen (eds.) (2006). Dictionary of Medical Biography. Westport: Greenwood, 5 volumes.
GILLESPIE, Charles (ed.) (1970/90). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
HEILBRON, John L. (ed.) (2003). The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science. Oxford: Univ. Press.
BIAGIOLI, Mario (ed.) (1999). The Science Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.
HACKETT, Edward J. et al., eds., The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, 3ª ed., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
HESSENBRUCH, Arne (ed.) (2000). Reader’s Guide to the Historry of Science. London: Fitzroy Dearbour.
KRIGE, John; PESTRE, Dominique (eds.) (2003). Companion to Science in the Twentieth Century. Amsterdam: Harwood.
PATTON, Lydia (ed.) (2014). Philosophy, Science, and History: A Guide and Reader. New York: Routledge.
MAUSKOPF, Seymour; SCHMALTZ, Tad (eds.) (2012). Integrating History and Philosophy of Science: Problems and Prospects. Dordrecht: Springer.
OLBY, Robert; Geoffrey CANTOR; John CHRISTIE; Jonathan HODGE, eds. (1990) Companion to the History of Modern Science. London: Routledge.
The Cambridge History of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 8 vols. [Disponible online].
PESTRE, Domique (ed.) (2015). Histoire des sciences et des savoirs. Paris: Seuil, 3 vols.
HISTORIOGRAPHY
Historiographic overviews are scarce. However, the following books might be useful as reference works:
DOEL, Ronald E., SÖDERQVIST, Thomas (2006). The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology, and Medicine: Writing Recent Science, London: Routledge.
GAVROGLU, Kostas (2007). O Passado das Ciências como História. Porto: Porto Editora.
GRAHAM, L. W. LEPENIES, P. WEINGART (eds.) (1987). Functions and Uses of Disciplinary Histories. Dordrecht: Springer.
GOLINSKI, Jan (1998). Making Natural Knowledge. Constructivism and the History of Science. Cambridge University Press.
HUISMAN, Frank; WARNER, John Harley (eds.) (2004). Locating medical history. Stories and their meanings. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
KRAGH, Helge (1989; 2007). Introducción a la historia de la ciencia. Barcelona: Crítica.
SOLÍS, Carlos (ed.) (1994). Razones e intereses. La historia de la ciencia después de Kuhn. Barcelona: Paidós.
SOLÍS, Carlos (ed.) (1998). Alta tensión: historia, filosofía y sociología de la ciencia. Ensayos en honor de Thomas S. Kuhn. Barcelona: Paidós.
BOOKS FOR THE HISTORIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
https://hssonline.org/2019/11/25/hss-award-winning-books-in-the-history-of-science/