History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Co-chairs: Michael Friedman (Philosophy), Jessica Riskin (History)
Committee-in-Charge: Paula Findlen (History), Michael Friedman (Philosophy), Helen Longino (Philosophy), Reviel Netz (Classics), Robert Proctor (History)
Program Committee: Paula Findlen (History), Michael Friedman (Philosophy), Helen Longino (Philosophy), Tom Mullaney (History), Reviel Netz (Classics), Robert Proctor (History), Jessica Riskin (History), Londa Schiebinger (History)
Professors: Keith Baker (History), Paula Findlen (History), Michael Friedman (Philosophy), David Holloway (History, Institute for International Studies, Political Science), Helen Longino (Philosophy), Reviel Netz (Classics), Robert Proctor (History), Londa Schiebinger (History), Richard White (History), Caroline Winterer (History)
Associate Professors: Jessica Riskin (History), Fred Turner (Communication), Sarah Jain (Anthropology), Priya Satia (History)
Assistant Professor: Thomas Mullaney (History)
Professor (Research): Rega Wood (Philosophy, emerita)
Lecturers: Tom Ryckman (Philosophy), Margo Horn, John McCaskey
Other Affiliation: Henry Lowood (Stanford University Libraries), Larry Lagerstrom (UAR)
Visiting Scholar: Adrienne Mayor (Classics)
Mail Code: 94305-2024
Email: r[email protected]
Web Site: http://HPST.stanford.edu
Courses offered by the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology are listed under the subject code HPS on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site.
The Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (HPST) teaches students to examine the sciences, medicine and technology from myriad perspectives, conceptual, historical and social. The community of scholars includes core faculty and students in History and Philosophy and affiliated members in Classics, Anthropology, English, Political Science, Communication, and other disciplines. Together, they draw upon the multiple methods of their disciplines to study the development, functioning, applications, and social and cultural engagements of the sciences.
Stanford's Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is a collaborative enterprise of the departments of History and Philosophy. Each department has its own undergraduate and graduate degree programs in this area, but these overlap and interact through the structure of requirements, advising, team-taught courses, an active graduate student community and a shared colloquium series.
The program's courses span from antiquity to the late 20th century, with emphasis on:
- ancient science
- Renaissance science
- the Scientific Revolution
- Enlightenment and transatlantic science
- history of medicine and the body
- history and philosophy of biology
- history and philosophy of modern physics
- history of the philosophy of science in the modern period
- gender, science, and technology
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES
The Department of History offers an interdisciplinary track in History, Science, and Medicine. The Department of Philosophy offers a degree field in History and Philosophy of Science.
GRADUATE DEGREES
Graduate students in the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology can pursue a Ph.D. either in History, through its Ph.D. field in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, or in Philosophy, through its Ph.D. field in Philosophy of Science. Students completing the requirements of the HPST program graduate with a diploma stating their concentration in HPST. For more information, see the program's web site at http://HPST.stanford.edu/grad.html.
Courses
The following courses may be used to fulfill course requirements.
INTRODUCTORY
- HPS/PHIL 60. Introduction to Philosophy of Science
- PHIL 16N. Values and Objectivity
- PHIL 15N. Freedom, Community, and Morality
- CLASSGEN 133. Invention of Science
- CLASSGEN 16. Archimedes and His Science
SCIENCE IN HISTORY
This sequence is designed to introduce students to the history of Science from antiquity to the 20th century. Students are advised to take most or all of this sequence as a core foundation.
- CLASSGEN 22N. Technologies of Civilization: Writing, Number, and Money
- HISTORY 31/STS 125/225. Science, Technology, and Art: The Worlds of Leonardo
- HISTORY 40/140. World History of Science
- HISTORY 41A/141A. The Emergence of Modern Medicine
- HISTORY 44N. The History of Women and Gender in Science, Medicine, and Engineering
- OSPFLOR 44. The Revolution in Science: Galileo and the Birth of Modern Scientific Thought
MEDICINE IN HISTORY
This sequence is designed to introduce students to the history of medicine from antiquity to the 20th century. Students are advised to take most or all of this sequence as a core foundation.
- AMSTUD 156. History of Women and Medicine in the United States
- HISTORY 243G/343G. Tobacco and Health in World History
- HISTORY130A. The Rise of Scientific Medicine
- HPS 158. The Social History of Mental Illness
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND TECHNOLOGY
This sequence is designed to introduce students to the philosophy of science. Students are advised to take HPS 60 above as a starting point, and combine a number of the electives listed below in conjunction with courses in the other concentrations that address their specific interests.
- FEMST 166/PHIL 184F/284F. Feminist Theories of Knowledge
- HPS 220. Nineteenth-Century Philosophy of Science
- PHIL 107/207. Plato and Heraclitus
- PHIL 115/215. Problems in Medieval Philosophy
- PHIL 163/263. Significant Figures in Philosophy of Science
- PHIL 164/264. Central Topics in the Philosophy of Science: Theory and Evidence
- PHIL 165C/265C. Philosophy of Physics: Probability and Relativity
- PHIL 167A/267A. Philosophy of Biology
- PHIL 167B/267B. Philosophy, Biology, and Behavior
- PHIL 167C/267C. Associative Theories of Mind and Brain
- PHIL 224. Kant's Philosophy of Physical Science
- PHIL 224A. Math in Kant's Philosophy
- PHIL 348. Evolution of Signals
- PHIL 360. Core Seminar in Philosophy of Science
- PHIL 365. Seminar in Philosophy of Science: Time
- OSPOXFRD 26. Spirit, Mind, Brain:Evolving Understanding in Neurology/Neuroscience
ADVANCED
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE
The following courses focus on specific episodes in or approaches to the history of science.
- HPS 154. The History of Scientific Methods, Pythagoras to Popper
- FRENGEN 295. Science, Technology, and Society in Europe and the U.S.: Ethical Debates and Controversies
- HISTORY 42/142/342. Darwin in the History of Life
- HISTORY 208A/308A. Science and the Law in History
- HISTORY 231A/331A. Charles Darwin and the Global 19th Century
- HISTORY 332F. The Scientific Revolution
- HISTORY 234F/334F. Science, Technology, and Empire
- HISTORY 241F/341F. History of the Modern Fact
- HISTORY 241G/341G/STS 134/234. History of the Senses
- HISTORY 241S. Science and Culture Wars
- HISTORY 242A/342A. Technology and Society in the Modern World
CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND TECHNOLOGY
The following courses focus on contemporary cultural and social science approaches to science, technology, and medicine.
- HPS 199. Directed Reading
- HPS 299. Graduate Individual Work
- ANTHRO 180. Science, Technology, and Gender
- HISTORY 44Q. The History of Women and Gender in Science, Medicine, and Engineering
- HISTORY 205A/305A. History of Information
- HISTORY 242G/342G. Einstein: Science, Technology and Culture
- HISTORY 243C/343C. 18th-Century Colonial Science and Medicine
- HISTORY 243S/443A. Human Origins: History, Evidence, and Controversy
- HISTORY 244C/444C. The History of the Body in Science, Medicine, and Culture
- HUMBIO 175. Healthcare as Seen through Medical History, Literature, and the Arts