History of Science, Fall 2009
Mathematical Order of Nature
http://grace.evergreen.edu/mon/
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Handouts
Schedule and Weekly Activities
- Wednesday 10-12 Sem 2 C2105
- Thursday 1-3 Sem 2 E3107
- Weely Topics
Week Weekly Book Reading Weekly Kline (Kl) Reading
---- -------------------------------- ------------------------
1 Wheelwright, Presocratics Ch 1,2 Historical Orientation
2 Wheelwright, Presocratics Ch 3 Abstraction
3 Wheelwright, Presocratics Ch 3 Reasoning
4 Plato, Dialogues Ch 6 Axiomatic Systems of Knowledge
5 Plato, Dialogues Ch 7,8 Mathematical Order of Nature
6 Kuhn, Ancient 2 Sphere Universe Ch 4,5 Numbers and Algebra
7 Crosby, Quantification Ch 13 Functions and Formulas
8 Kuhn, Galileo, Recasting tradition Ch 12 Equations and Curves
9 Kuhn, Copernican Revolution Ch 13 Equations Falling Objects
10 Review and Reflection
- 10-12 Wednesday All seminar textbook readings, handout readings
and assigned homework for History of Science must be completed and ready for
questions, discussion, or presentation in class.
- 1-2 Thursday All papers are due in class. We'll also use this
Thursday time for weekly program wrap-up, questions, reflections, or
problem solving.
Credit and Evaluation Policy
The credit and evaluation policy given in the program covenant under the
sections on student expectations applies.
Specifically for this component of the program this means the following.
Successful learning requires active involvement in learning activities:
reading, writing, problem solving, discussion, and lecture.
The credit and evaluation policy is based on this observation.
Credit will be awarded for participating in and completing the entire body
of work for this component of the program at a passing level of performance.
Credit decisions and evaluations will be based on
- attendance and active participation,
- on-time completion of readings and written assignments, and
- satisfactory performance on all exams and written work.
The quality of your work, the level of your understanding, and the extent of
your improvement will be reflected in your evaluation.
As a general policy credit will be awarded on an all or none basis
for each of the four threads of study,
although the faculty reserves the right to make exceptions to that rule.
No incompletes will be given.
Attendance is required at all program activities. Failure to attend
three or more of scheduled class meetings of History of Science or failure to
submit an assigned paper is sufficient grounds for loss of credit.
Failure to achieve satisfactory results on exams or failure to submit
satisfactory written assignments in a timely way is sufficient grounds for
loss of credit.
Assignments
All assignments are due on Wednesday in class except where as noted (the three
final papers are due Thursday). As noted below in the assignments, preliminary
drafts of your essays are due one week before the final draft so you can
discuss them and get feedback.
Think of the real paper deadlines as the draft due date.
Week 1 Due Wednesday
- Wheelwright: Read pp 1-40
- Kline: Read Ch 1,2 pp 1-29, Historical Outline
Week 2 Due Wednesday
- Wheelwright: Read pp 40-175
- Wheelwright questions: NA
- Kline: Read Ch 3 pp30-39 on Abstraction
- Kline problems: p28 2,3,4; p38 5,6,7; p39 1,2,3
Week 3
- Wheelwright: Finish the book
- Wheelwright questions:
Workshop on the Presocratics for Week 3.
Take a look at this and think about it as you formulate your
paper and prepare for week three discussions.
- Kline: Read Ch 3 pp39-57 on Reasoning
- First Essay Draft Thesis and supporting arguments
- Paper 1 Topic and Tips - paper draft is due Wednesday week 3. Be prepared to hand in a paper copy of your draft in class
- Kline problems: p44 1-9; p49 1-10;
- Note In general be prepared to discuss Kline questions, but
rather than hand them in right away, keep the solutions to Kline questions
in a portfolio to submit mid-quarter and/or end of quarter.
- One more thing: Put the Kline problems for this week last on your
list in case you get short on time as it does not seem like we will have time
to discuss them them during week 3.
Week 4
- Plato: Read to p57
- Plato questions:
Questions about the early dialogues of Plato
- use these questions to prepare for discussion. Nothing to hand in for this.
- Kline: Read Ch 6 pp123-131
- Kline problems: p51 1-3; p55 1,3,5; p130 1,2 ;
- First Essay due Thursday at 1:00pm in class
Week 5
- Plato: Finish the book
- Plato questions: Same questions as last week
- Kline: Read Ch 6 pp 123-131;
- Kline problems: p195 6-8; finish p44 and 49 problems
- Hand in your answers to the
Workshop on the Presocratics for Week 3.
Yeah, I know I said to and it in week 6 with your second paper draft, but
if you've got it done, turn it in this week.
Week 6
- Kuhn: Read to p100 (Through the Ancient 2-sphere Universe)
- Kuhn Questions: Kuhn Workshop on Ancient 2-Sphere Universe
- Kline: Read Ch 9 pp197-207, Ch4 pp58-83
- Kline problems: None
- Second Essay Draft Thesis and supporting arguments
- Hand in your answers to the Workshop on the Presocratics for Week 3.
if, that is, you didn't hand it in last week.
Week 7
- Crosby: Finish the book
- Kline: Read Ch 7,8 pp153-158, 187-195
- Kline problems: None
- Second Essay due Thursday at 1:00pm in class
Week 8
Thanksgiving Week. No Classes, nothing due.
Week 9
Week 10
- Third Essay due Thursday at 1:00pm in class
- Learning self assessment due Thursday in class.
- Week 10 Galileo Workshop on Infinities. This workshop included a paper handout of pages 30 to 36 of Galileo's Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences which can be found as an online book on the web.