Power+Knowledge: Introduction to the History of Science
Fall 2011
Instructor: Dr. Orit Halpern
Office: Dept. of History/80 Fifth Avenue/ Room 507
Office Hours: Monday 2-4 /by appointment
e-mail: HalpernO@newschool.edu
Welcome to the introduction to the history of science. In this class we will
be taking up some of the most pressing questions facing society today—
from ecology, to technology, to medicine, to genetics—and asking what
history can tell us about the present, and how historical study can inform
our ability to act upon these issues. Together, we will come to have a
better understanding not only of science and society, but also about
history. This class is an introduction to why history matters, even to those
things that sometimes don’t seem to have a history like our biologies, our
bodies, or ourselves.
Required Texts:
Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, (New York: Penguin, 2006)
Apostolos Doxiadis, Logicomix, London: Bloomsbury Publishing (2009)
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1996) –any edition will do!
Janet Browne, Darwin’s Origin of Species:A Biography, (New York: Grove
Press, 2006)
Requirements:
There is a weekly response paper of 1-2 pages that must demonstrate
engagement with the readings due at the end of class every Wednesday.
The first one is due at the end of the second week. These along with your
attendance and participation will constitute 60% of your grade.
There is a final 10-15 (15-20 for seniors and juniors) page paper due on the
last day of class.
This is an independent research paper that must reflect a theme from the
class. You must use at least 3 non-internet based sources, and it must
engage with any topic from the class involving science and technology.
The guidelines will be posted on blackboard.
As part of this paper, there will be a final 7-10 minute presentation of your
research in class. The paper and the presentation will constitute 40% of
the grade.
Failure to do the final paper is an automatic failure in the class.
Otherwise, just show up and think!!!! That’s what I like best!!!!
SECTION ONE: DOES NATURE HAVE A HISTORY? WHAT IS NATURE? AND
WHAT IS HISTORY?
Week One:
INTRODUCTION
Reading: Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Please analyze what counts as nature and what as technology in Pollan’s
work. We will begin a conversation about how ideas of nature and
culture are developed. Compare with the previous week’s discussion
about what constitutes nature, and ecology
Week Two:
Excerpts from: Changes in the Land, Revised Edition: Indians, Colonists, and the
Ecology of New England by William Cronon , (ON-LINE)
Cont. Omnivore’s Dilemma
Our question is to consider how we create histories—what is a natural
versus a non-natural history?
First Assignment for Monday. Please bring in one article about nature or
science. Be prepared to discuss why you were interested in it. Did
anything strike you as interesting about this piece? How did the article
discuss “nature”? What did the article say was due to people? Or
technology? And what parts were considered non-human? What
conventions were used? Did you notice anything about the use of history?
Or social context? What type of language (notice the adjectives being
used) were deployed?
Week Three:
Thomas Kuhn—The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
SECTION 2: THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE,
OBJECTIVITY, AND TRUTH
Week Four:
Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, excerpts from Objectivity [On-LINE]
Lorraine Daston and Katy Park, Wonder and the Order of Nature (On-line)
Class trip to see Harun Farocki show at MOMA
Week Five: facts (cont.)/ Histories of Knowledge cont.
Bring in articles from papers. Discuss what constitutes a “fact” today?
Continue discussion of Daston, Galison, together. What are the
differences in the histories they tell? How can we think these accounts
together?
Discuss the issues that emerge with the Farocki show.
Bruno Latour, The Pasteurization of France (First Part) (on-line)
What is an actor for Latour? Who produces knowledge? In fact, what is
knowledge? How are nature and culture related in this account?
Recommended: Excerpts from Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar,
Laboratory Life [on-line]
Week Six: How do Facts make Truths? The Rise of Statistical and
Probabilistic Thinking
Ted Porter, The Rise of Statistical Thinking (excerpts, on-line)
Recommended: Ian Hacking, The Taming of Chance (excerpts, on-line)
SECTION THREE: TIME, ECONOMY and EVOLUTION
Week 7 :Evolution, Time, and Fitness
Charles Darwin Origin of the Species
Chapters: Historical Sketch/ Introduction/ Chapter IV-Survival of the
Fittest/Chapter XV--Recapitulation and Conclusion.
You can also buy the book, it might be easier and cheaper.
But its available at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=TCwLAAAAIAAJ&dq=origin+of+the+s
pecies&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=VVk2CYUZ9v&sig=MmOs314y
oPZGVK3n6cGALeYikNk&hl=en&ei=W1LgSqbQBs7ZlAf_tyEDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CD4Q6AEwDA
#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Lecture on statistics, introduction to normal curves etc. this may be
moved sooner depending on scheduling with math person.
Janet Browne, Darwin’s Origin of the Species, A Biography
Week 8: What is History? What is Nature? How are they linked by Time?
Charles Darwin Origin of the Species (cont.)
Karl Marx, "Das Kapital" Chapter 14 and 15, 32
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/
Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 1844
Read the Prelude and
“The Accumulation of Capitals and Competition Among Capitalists
and Estranged Labor{
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.h
tm
OPTIONAL
Das Kapital
Chapters 33
SECTION FOUR: SCIENCE AND DIFFERENCE
Week 9:
Allan Sekula, The Body in the Archive (on-line)
Foucault: Bio-power (chapter from History of Sexuality) (on-line)
Visit to Natural History Museum
Week 10:
Donna Haraway-Primate Visions (excerpts) [ON-LINE]
Nancy Leys Stephan-Picturing the Tropics (excerpts) [On-Line]
Recommended: Elizabeth Edwards, Raw Histories: Anthropology,
Photography, and the Museum, (excerpts) On-LINE
Week 11:
Stephen J. Gould: Mismeasure of Man excerpts (on-line)
Thomas Laquer, Making Sex (excerpts) [On-line]
Additional:
Alondra Nelson: Black Panthers and Medical Testing (on-line)
SECTION FIVE: INFORMATION SOCIETY
Week 12:
Logicomix—History of Logic and Computing
Norbert Wiener: Human Use of Human Beings (on-line) excerpts
Week13:
Vannevar Bush, As We May Think [on-line]
Peter Galison, The Ontology of the Enemy (on-line)
Week 14:
Beatriz Colomina, Enclosed By Images (on-line)
Donna Haraway, The Cyborg Manifesto [On-line]
Week 15:
Michel Callon, Market Devices, (excerpts) [On-Line]
Rheinhold Martin, The Organizational Complex (on-line)
FINAL WEEKS STUDENT PRESENTATIONS