Scientific Inquiry: Theories and Practices

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Using major historical texts as primary material, students will investigate crucial philosophical and methodological issues that arise in modern scientific inquiry, especially in the physical and life sciences. What can cause scientists to adopt (or resist) new theories? What relationships has science held to other intellectual disciplines, and how have those relationships changed over time? What fundamental assumptions about the natural world are adopted in much of modern science? What methods have scientists advocated for creating reliable knowledge? Students will grapple with these questions as we study and discuss central texts in the development of modern science, including the works of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton.