Sep 20, 2024
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2024-25
HIST 2755 - Nature, Science and Religion in premodern Europe to 1750
This course explores the evolution of scientific ideas and methods from the work of the ancient Greeks and medieval European and Arabic scientists to the Scientific Revolution of 17th-century Europe, examining pre-modern understandings of the natural world, the cosmos, and the “races of man.” This course investigates how scientific explanations developed as a result of changing social, political, and economic contexts in the pre-modern era. The first half of the course explores how premodern scientists sought to explain the natural world, the divine, and humankind’s role in the world. The second half focuses on the Scientific Revolution (1450-1750) when premodern concepts of nature were challenged, reinvented, and discarded in favor of modern scientific method and experimentation.
Credit Hours: 3
OHIO BRICKS: Arch: Constructed World
Thematic Arches:
- Science & Technology
General Education Code (students who entered prior to Fall 2021-22): 2SS
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
College Credit Plus: Level 1
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will be able to describe how cultural values, ideals, and social mores influence the development of scientific thought in the past and today.
- Students will be able to explain the position of historical actors and their ideas within social, political, and religious systems.
- Students will be able to critically evaluate primary sources and identify the influence of social, political, or economic systems on the author’s perspective and position.
- Students will be able to define ‘science’ and explain scientific methods and objectives as the products of culture at different points in Western history.
- Students will be able to construct thesis-driven arguments backed by evidence and will be able to explain how their arguments reflect their own historical experience.
- Students will be able to demonstrate how religious beliefs and practices shaped the study and production of science before 1750.
- Students will be able to explain primary terminology, concepts, and findings of the discipline of history of science.
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