Overview
1500 words double-spaced and uploaded to Canvas via Word doc
In lieu of a final research paper, I am assigning a final reflection paper for each of you to complete. You will have two choices for your final reflection paper. Please note which prompt you are doing in your uploaded assignment:
1) For those of you majoring in a STEM field, please reflect on how the history of the sciences in general and the history of your own field in particular can help you to understand it better. Think broadly about the major themes of the course and include any or all of the following questions in your answer: What is the relationship between theory and practice in your field and how has it changed over time? To what degree does your field have a "pure" version that is more-or-less based on an exploration of knowledge and pursuit for the truth, and to what degree is it driven by practical or technological applications? How have the political and economic forces of modernity, particularly in the US since roughly 1945, affected how your field has developed? Is your field "continuous" with long, stable development over the years or do you think there have been "revolutionary breaks" with the past? In what ways has the broader culture of the 20th and 21st centuries affected how your filed operates and to what degree have advances in your field affected that broader culture beyond the sciences? (E.g., if you are in computer science, think about how developments in your field have changed how people live, work, shop, etc.) You should reflect personally on these topics, but you should also, when appropriate, include analytical/critical/historical information from your field.
2) For those of you who are not majoring in a STEM field (or for those of you of you who do not wish to do the personal reflection), please write a 1500-word general reflection on the history of science since roughly the 1500s. You may use any/all of the readings from this class. It is not meant to be a "research paper" (necessarily), but you should reflect on your own ideas about the sciences and how they have changed over the past ~500 years based on what you have learned in class and what you know more broadly from your studies in the sciences at the high school and college level. Answer one of the following questions:
a) Is science primarily "revolutionary" or "evolutionary"? If science is "evolutionary", to what degree is it also "continuous" with the past or are there radical breaks that demarcate it from earlier eras?
b) What use is there in historically studying sciences that no longer exist (e.g., alchemy, astrology, natural magic, phrenology, etc.)?
c) Is science primarily driven by theoretical developments or practical innovations (i.e., what is more important--thinking or doing/making)? If it's both, what is the relationship between the two, both historically and in the present day?
d) What is the historical relationship between science and religion? In what ways have these "conflicted" with one another? In what ways does conflict not capture their relationship?
e) How did the social, political, economic, and/or technological changes since 1945 affect the ways sciences are practiced? How have the rapid developments in these areas (e.g., Soviet/US relations during the Cold War, how science is funded through public and private money, the massive impact of technology on our everyday lives, etc.) changed the sciences from the end of World War II to the present?