HPS 210F Scientific Revolutions
Essay 1
Due date:
In your tutorial of 21st or 22nd October
Length:
1500-1700 words (10% rule = below 1350 too short, above 1870 too long)
Late penalty: 5% per day (see course outline)
Format:
1.5 or Double Spaced; Justified in similar fashion to this essay sheet; start
each new paragraph with an indent; use a reference format of your choice
(footnotes, endnotes, in text citation); include a bibliography; your first
page is a cover sheet indicating which essay you chose, your name and
student number, and an e-mail contact; number your pages.
 Choose either Essay #1 or Essay #2. Value is 20% of Course Grade.
Essay #1
Aristotle & the Medievals
Aristotle constructed a complex but interconnected body of astronomical, physical,
biological and cosmological thought and, later, “Aristotelianism” became the dominant
system of natural philosophy in the Middle Ages. Compare and contrast Aristotle with
one of his Medieval ‘commentators’ (e.g.: St Thomas Aquinas, Nicole Oresme, Jean
Buridan, Albert of Saxony, Roger Bacon, Nicholas of Cusa, Albertus Magnus). Your
Medieval will be an author writing somewhere in the period 1200-1500. Concentrate on
some aspect of cosmology, astronomy or physics. You must access at least two primary
sources, one by Aristotle and one by the commentator of your choice.
The point is to demonstrate your ability to reconstruct important issues from the
point of view of Aristotle and your chosen ‘medieval’. Through good research you may
be able to find places where your Medieval scholar is addressing some aspect of
Aristotle’s thought, so that you will compare and contrast the two in terms of a debate
over a particular belief or way of doing things. If you cannot locate such a specific
debate, then compare and contrast the two in terms of the beliefs or practices they are
speaking of, respectively, in the passages you choose for comparison. In both cases,
consider whether your authors are explaining things in terms of internal (secondary)
causation, what the role of God or Purpose is in the explanation, what the specific
question is that is being posed (what activity is the inquiry a part of), who appears to be
the intended audience, and what are the specific categories and terms that are important
to the historical actors.
If it is not clear to your TA that you have accessed primary sources then your TA
will assign you a failing grade. A primary source is a piece of work actually written by
Aristotle or the chosen Medieval scholar, in contrast to secondary sources, which are
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written by historians writing about such people. You are not required to read an entire
book, nor is your essay a biography of Aristotle or the Medieval. Find specific topics and
discuss one issue in detail. Components of your essay grade will include: Do you have a
thesis and have you supported it? Have you used two primary sources? Your essay should
include small biographical details to indicate who your medieval is, and when they wrote,
and you may also include a few details telling of the research process that led you to the
passages of your primary authors.
Essay #2
Ptolemy & Copernicus
In this question you have to reconstruct some part of the late 15th and early 16th century
debate between Copernicans and Ptolemaic astronomers. This essay is not asking you to
simply list a few details (“Ptolemy had a geocentric system with some funky circle things
going on, and Copernicus was our hero with less circles and the Sun in the centre”). You
could write that essay straight from your notes, which is not to test anything. Rather, you
need to put such issues in their contemporary context, and for that you need to narrow
your focus. Hence, the key here is to reconstruct some aspect of the
astronomical/cosmological debate from the point of view of either an opponent or a
supporter of Copernicus in the period 1543-1610.
Look at a section of the work of Ptolemy, and compare and contrast Ptolemy with
either a supporter or an opponent of Copernicus. Like Essay 1, you may compare and
contrast in terms of a single issue, or you may show their different or similar ways of
doing things by reference to a particular issue, belief or practice. It is whatever your
research turns up. You must consult primary sources (at least one of Ptolemy’s books,
preferably Tetrabiblos, and at least one of the works of your chosen contrast). In your
answer, you must take account of two things. One, Ptolemy’s system as presented in the
Almagest was primarily a calculating tool, though he was also concerned with physical
realization (the Planetary Hypotheses). Relate these concerns to his astrological interests.
Two, whether you choose an opponent or a supporter of Copernicus, outline their specific
reasons for opposing or supporting the Copernican system. What were the aims of the
Copernican supporter/opponent, and how do those aims compare to those of Ptolemy?
It must be clear to your TA that you have used primary sources (see clarification
in Essay 1 description), and a failing grade will be applied if you have not. Components
of your essay grade will include: Do you have a thesis and have you supported it? Have
you used two primary sources? Your essay should include small biographical details to
indicate who your Copernican supporter/opponent is, and when they wrote, and you may
also include a few details telling of the research process that led you to the passages of
your primary authors.
Selection hints: see Lecture 8, if you wish to choose one of the 10 Copernicans
(except Galileo), or choose either a Wittenberg candidate (Reinhold or Melanchthon) or a
Jesuit (Clavius). For an opponent, you could choose Brahe, but this would pose problems
because choosing Brahe might make your essay too long, as you would have to add a
Brahe/Ptolemy comparison. Your best bet for an opponent is to start with Jesuit scholars.
In either case, make use of the bibliographies in your reader.
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