Sept 2: read Galileo's Daughter and come to class prepared to discuss the questions that were sent with it.
Sept 6: read Popper's "Three Views Concerning Human Knowledge". Download this article from the library's e-reserves. Click on Search Course Reserves.
Writing assignment: Write a two to three page critical review of the Popper article structured in the following way: Part I should be a two-hundred-word abstract that simply summarizes Popper's essay without injecting any of your own ideas or opinions. Part II should answer the following question: "What do you consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of Popper's views?"
Sept 11: Read chapters 1 and 2 of The Birth of a New Physics.
Writing assignment: You have been asked to guest-write Marilyn Vos Savant's Science column of questions and answers for a general audience of newspaper readers. Either write a response to each question, using a maximum of 100 words for each response. Or write a combined response using at most 200 words. If you use any technical terms, you will have to explain them carefully.
1. If I hold a rock in my hand and drop it, it falls to the ground, but if I throw it upwards, it keeps moving up even after it leaves my hand and eventually slows down, stops, then falls to the ground. Why doesn't it fall as soon as it leaves my hand? What's really happening to the rock when I throw it in the air?
2. On television, I've watched the rocket carrying the space shuttle take off from the launch pad. I've noticed that after the engines fire and the locks are blown off, the rocket seems to pause, suspended on the pad for a moment before it begins to move. Why does it pause? What's really happening to the rocket?
Sept 13: Read chapters 3 and 4 of The Birth of a New Physics.
Sept 18: Read chapters 5 and 6 of The Birth of a New Physics.
Writing assignment: You are a cardinal and science advisor to Pope Urban VIII in 1633. You have studied the writings of Kepler and Galileo. A letter comes from the Pope asking you to enumerate the weaknesses in and problems with their arguments that, in fact, the earth moves. Write your response, a maximum of 500 words, listing all of the reasons that might lead a cautious scientist to reserve judgement on whether or not the earth moves.
Sept 20: Read chapter 7 of The Birth of a New Physics and chapter 1 (pp 11-25) from A Guide to Newton's Principia,.
Sept 25: Read Science: Conjectures and Refutations by Karl Popper. Download this article from the library's e-reserves.
Writing assignment:
Sept 27 Read chapter 3 of A Guide to Newton's Principia and the introductions to the Principia (pages 379--400).
Oct 2 Read chapters 4 and 5 of A Guide to Newton's Principia, the Definitions and Axioms in the Principia (pages 403--430), and Book I, Proposition 1 in the Principia (pages 444--446).
Writing assignment: You are an English scientist in 1690, slowly working your way through Newton's Principia, when you receive the following letter from an Italian colleague:
Dear Friend,
I have just learned of a wonderful new book by a compatriot of yours, Isaac Newton is his name, that purports to explain the motion of the earth, the moon, and the planets. Before I engage in the difficult and possibly dangerous task of trying to obtain a copy of this book, I would like to know whether or not it is worth the effort. I cannot believe that he has solved the problem of celestial motion without also being able to explain how and why things move here on earth. What is his explanation of what happens when you throw a rock into the air and how does this differ from the explanation given by the great Galileo? Convince me that this Newton has something new and important to say.
With kindest regards,
Vincenzio
Write a reponse to Vincenzio.
Oct 4 Read pages 293--323 from A Guide to Newton's Principia and Book I, Proposition 6 in the Principia (pages 453--456).
Informal assignment: Describe the questions or problems that intrigue you, that you might want to pursue in a term paper.
Oct 9 Read chapter 6 and example 2: pages 324--330, from A Guide to Newton's Principia and Book I, Proposition 11 in the Principia (pages 462--463).
Writing assignment: What are the properties of an ellipse that Newton uses in his proof of Proposition 11? Specify where he uses each of these. Give proofs for those statements you can prove. For those you cannot prove, explain exactly what needs to be proven.
Oct 11: The class will be meeting with Beth Hilleman from the library staff for a training session on library and web resources.
Oct 16 Read chapters 7 and 8 of A Guide to Newton's Principia and the Introduction, Rules, and Phenomena from Book III of the Principia (pages 794--801).
No writing assignment for today. Work on your section of the Principia.
Oct 18 Read chapter 9 of A Guide to Newton's Principia and the General Scholium of the Principia (pages 939--944).
Oct 23 Read the chapter on "Chemistry" from Hankins' Science and the Enlightenment. Download this chapter from the library's e-reserves.
Writing assignment: Submit an annotated bibiliography for your chosen question or problem. Give full and correct bibliographic references and then include relevant information such as: Is this source primary or secondary? How reliable and current is this source? If there is a question about how reliable or current it is, what mitigating factors cause you to include it in your list? What kind of information (e.g. general background, particular point of view, it deals with a related question) does this source provide? In other words, the annotations should serve to describe each resource you've found and to indicate how it can be useful as you answer your question.
Nov 1. Read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Writing assignment: Write a critical review of Kuhn's book structured in the following way: Part I should be an abstract that simply summarizes Kuhn's book without injecting any of your own ideas or opinions. Part II should be a personal reaction to one of the points that Kuhn makes. There is no limit on the length of this article, but work on making it as concise and forceful as you can.
Nov 8. Read Kuhn's "Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?" and Popper's "Normal Science and its Dangers" from Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge.
Writing assignment: What are the real differences between Kuhn and Popper? Does Kuhn present an accurate account of what Popper says? Does Popper present an accurate account of what Kuhn has to say? Support your arguments.
Nov 15. Read Lakatos's "Falsification and the Methodology of Sceintific Research Programs" from Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. You may skip the appendix. Optional: You may want to read Kuhn's reaction to the Lakatos article. See especially pages 237-241 and 256-259.
Note: This writing assignment is postponed to November 20. Writing assignment: Explain what Lakatos means by (1) naive falsificationism, (2) methodological falsificationism, (3) sophisticated methodological falsificationsim. Discuss whether Lakatos's explanation clarifies or muddies the problem of demarcation. Use at least one example (e.g. astrology, creationism, or psychology).
Nov 20. Review your notes on the articles and books by Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos.
Writing assignment: Explain what Lakatos means by (1) naive falsificationism, (2) methodological falsificationism, (3) sophisticated methodological falsificationsim. Discuss whether Lakatos's explanation clarifies or muddies the problem of demarcation. Use at least one example (e.g. astrology, creationism, or psychology).
Reminder: First draft of your paper on your section of Newton's Principia is due Wednesday, Nov. 21, by 5pm.
Nov 27. no assignment due today unless you are Schery, Katie, Jerry, or Kate.
Dec 4. Read the chapter on "Experimental Physics" from Hankins' Science and the Enlightenment. Download this chapter from the library's e-reserves.
Writing assignment: Choice of
Draw on your journal to write a first-person, chronologically organized account of your thinking process as you explored the question or problem you selected to complement this course. Begin by describing what the question is and how and why you became interested in it. Then, narrate the evolving process of your thinking. This exploratory essay should include both external details (what you read, how you found it, who you talked to) and internal mental details (what you were thinking about, how your ideas were evolving). For this essay, it doesn't matter whether you reach a final position or solve the problem; your reader is interested in your process, not your final product. Show the reader, for example, your frustration when a promising source turned out to be useless. Show how new ideas continually led you to reformulate your problem through expansion, narrowing, shifting of focus, or whatever. Make your exploratory essay an interesting intellectual detective story, something your readers will enjoy.
OR
Use this paper to synthesize the views of Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos. Either identify a substantial weakness in their descriptions of science that you think you can correct and give a solid argument supporting your thesis, or take a significant scientific development (which could be Newton's Principia) and do a careful analysis of how it fits or does not fit the descriptions of science given by these three people. Whatever you write on, this should be a substantial paper, giving yourself time to develop and defend your thesis (at least 7 but not more than 12 pages).
Dec. 6. Read the chapter on "Electromagnetism" from Purrington' s Physics in the Nineteenth Century. Download this chapter from the library's e-reserves.
Rewrite of the Lakatos paper is due.
Dec 11.Read the portion of "Missed Opportunities" by Freeman Dyson available in pdf file.