Galileo's Invention of Science

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This is a course focused on the dual revolution in which Galileo played a central role. First is the astronomical revolution changing our conception of our place in the universe and the nature of that universe, and second is the fundamental change that takes mathematics to be the proper language of scientific investigation of the physical world. The course begins with some pre-history of the revolution, then traces it from Galileo through Newton’s Principia and its reception. Main themes are centered on: The nature of mathematics and their role in natural laws; experimental practice and the role of idealization; the nature of motion and rest and their absolute versus relational character; the social reception of scientific advance; the metaphysics of nature especially forces. TRIPS I would take students to Museo Galileo to examine scientific instruments, to the Bibliteca Nazionale to have the students examine facsimiles of Galileo's manuscripts and finally take a walking tour of Piazza del Duomo and surrounding areas to see Renaissance mathematics in action. If it fits with the over Villa schedule I would love to take them on a day trip to Pisa. GOALS By the end of the course students should be able to: explain some the scientific and philosophical context of early modern Europe; understand Galileo’s experimental method for studying mechanics and astronomy; distinguish the conceptual advances of modern science over Aristotelean philosophy; give arguments in favor of Galileo’s view that mathematics is the language for studying nature; analyze and critique primary scientific and philosophical texts from the early modern period. EVALUATION Students will be assessed on the basis of two in-class papers, each written over the course of two class sessions, an oral exam toward the end of term, and a journal comprising weekly reflections on and assessments of what we accomplished in class together with a unifying introduction and conclusion. COURSE FLOW 3 weeks on background. Astronomy and the nature of the heavens from Ptolemy to Copernicus. Discussion of the nature of scientific revolutions. 8 weeks on Galileo specifically: The Assayer, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Two New Sciences. We will dig into significant parts of the two books, and read all of the Assayer. Focus will be on Galileo’s philosophy of nature and experiment with attention to mathematization of nature, debates about the proper world system, relativity and the nature of acceleration. 2 weeks on Newton’s philosophy of nature and his final versions of Galileo’s innovations in natural philosophy especially the uniformity between terrestrial and cosmological phenomena. 1 week on Einstein’s epistemological engagement with Galileo’s relativity principle.