HPS 154:
What is Science? Explaining Nature from Pythagoras to Popper
History of scientific methods and associated science from ancient Greece to the 20th century. Case studies include Pythagoras, Plato, and Euclid; Aristotle; medieval science; scientific Renaissance of the 1540s; methodological clashes involving the Church, Galileo, Bacon, and Descartes; Newton; Faraday; Darwin; rise of statistical methods; beginnings of modern physics; Popper. The mutual influences of method and practice. What does and does not qualify as science. Recommended: background in history, philosophy, or a technical field such as mathematics, science, or engineering.
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum