Descriptif
Teacher: Laurent Loison
CNRS, SPHERE, Paris (UMR 7219)
This course is a general introduction to the history of science with two aims. The first is to make accessible certain key moments in the constitution of science, from the elaboration of the Aristotelian cosmos to the advent of molecular biology, via the Galilean and Darwinian revolutions. The second is to offer an epistemological reflection on the nature of scientific activity. From this perspective, the question of finality and finalism will be the major theme of the course. The aim is to understand how and why the empirical sciences (whose object is to understand natural phenomena, i.e. physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) have succeeded in producing non-finalist explanations.
effectifs minimal / maximal:
1/25Diplôme(s) concerné(s)
Pour les étudiants du diplôme Bachelor of Science de l'Ecole polytechnique
Vos modalités d'acquisition :
Two time-limited in-class examinations
Programme détaillé
Week 1: Science before science. The empirical knowledge of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians in ancient times
Week 2: Aristotle’s cosmos
Week 3: Aristotle’s cosmos challenged
Week 4: Rebuilding physics: Galileo
Week 5: A few (failed) attempts at “mechanism” in the life sciences
Week 6: no course
Week 7: mid-term evaluation
Week 8: Teleology and finalism in the 18th-century life sciences
Week 9: Darwin’s solution (1): the path to ‘Natural Selection’
Week 10: Darwin’s solution (2): the content of The Origin of Species
Week 11: Teleology still there: how to explain embryonic development?
Week 12: A new form of biology: molecular biology
Week 13: The genetic programme
Week 14: final evaluation
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