HIST 3500 Science and Society in the Modern World

From the Enlightenment to contemporary debates surrounding human-made climate change, what is “science” and how has scientific authority become a critical part of the modern world? This course surveys the history of science in society from the end of the century of Isaac Newton to the present day. Beginning in the eighteenth century, it examines fundamental intellectual and cultural shifts that laid the basis for the modern ordering of nature, the gradual emergence of the “scientist” as a professional expert and public figure in society, and the impact of new spaces and technologies on practices of science in the contemporary world. We will consider science’s socially-contingent origins as well as its social impact, paying particular attention to why some kinds of knowledge, practices, and institutions were considered “scientific” over others, as well as how this changed through time.