New Courses of Interest to Science Studies Students
Mathematics 150 -- Spring 1997; Professor David Reed, Department of Mathematics;
"Classics in Mathematics"
Course Outline: The study of classic mathematical texts provides insight both into the origins
of important mathematical results and techniques and a view of alternative approaches to
mathematical argument and its presentation. In this course we will examine a few texts from
various periods in some detail. We will explore questions such as the discovery and
organization of mathematical subject matters, the development and variation of methods for
arguing and presenting mathematics, and various notions of what it means for a mathematical
theory to 'succeed' and achieve a sense of completeness or closure. These questions will be
examined not in a general philosophical sense but as they arise in concrete mathematical
programs and are embodied in individual mathematical texts.
The course will have two parts. In the first we will discuss Euclid's Elements using Hilbert's
Foundations of Geometry and Descartes' Geometry for purposes of comparison. In the second
part we will focus on certain aspects of 19th century German mathematics, contrasting the
work of two of C. F. Gauss' students, R. Dedekind and B. F. Riemann, with work of E.E.
Kummer and L. Kronecker. The texts to be examined will be selections from these authors
from the period 1850 - 1875 which illustrate very different approaches to the same set of
mathematical problems. The course is designed principally for Juniors and Seniors in
Mathematics who have taken courses in basic real analysis and algebra. Others with an interest
in mathematical texts or history and philosophy of mathematics are welcome but may find the
second part of the course in particular requiring extra work.
Course for Spring 1997; Department: Literature Program; Course Number: Lit. 281
[plus section number] ("Paradigms of Modern Thought"); Course Title : 20th Century
Reconceptions of Science and Knowledge; Professor: Barbara Herrnstein Smith;
Cross-Listed: English Department [course number to be assigned]; Conditions of Admission:
permission required from instructor for undergraduate admission; Prerequisites: None
Synopsis of Course: The course will focus on key texts and crucial issues in contemporary
history, sociology, and philosophy of science -- or, as the assemblage is sometimes
called, "science studies." Of particular concern will be the theoretical and methodological
problems that, throughout the century, have led to (a) critiques of classic realist, rationalist,
positivist, and logical-empiricist conceptions of the nature of knowledge and (supposed or
posited) specificity of scientific truth, method, objectivity, and progress, and (b) the
development of alternative conceptions of the construction and stabilization of scientific
knowledge and the relations between scientific and cultural practices.
Reading Assigments: Readings will include selections from L. Fleck, The Genesis and
Development of a Scientific Fact; K. Popper, Conjectures and Refutations; P. Feyerabend,
Against Method; T. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientiflc Revolutions; D. Bloor, Knowledge and
Social Imagery; S. Shapin and S. Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump; A. Pickering, ed.,
Science as Culture and Practice; and B. Latour, Science in Action and Aramis: or Love of
Technology. No examinations, one term paper. Grade based on participation in class
discussion and the term paper. Additional Information/Comments: Several lectures in the
course will be given by E. Roy Weintraub, Professor of Economics.