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This archived information is dated to the 2009-10 academic year only and may no longer be current.

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History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

In this section:

Overseas Studies Courses in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

Up one level:

School of Humanities and Sciences

Co-chairs: Michael Friedman (Philosophy), Jessica Riskin (History)

Committee-in-Charge: Barton Bernstein (History), 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), Reviel Netz (Classics), Robert Proctor (History), Jessica Riskin (History), Londa Schiebinger (History, Clayman Institute for Gender Research)

Professors: Keith Baker (History), Barton Bernstein (History), Paula Findlen (History), Michael Friedman (Philosophy), David Holloway (History, Institute for International Studies, Political Science), David Kennedy (History), Reviel Netz (Classics), Robert Proctor (History), Londa Schiebinger (History, Clayman Institute for Gender Research), Richard White (History), Helen Longino (Philosophy)

Associate Professors: Jessica Riskin (History), Caroline Winterer (History)

Assistant Professors: Sarah Jain (Anthropology), Thomas Mullaney (History), Priya Satia (History), Fred Turner (Communication)

Professor (Research): Rega Wood (Philosophy)

Lecturers: Tom Ryckman (Philosophy), Margo Horn, John McCaskey

Other Affiliation: Henry Lowood (Stanford University Libraries)

Visiting Scholar: Adrienne Mayor (Classics)

Mail Code: 94305-2024

Email: rrogers@stanford.edu

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. Our 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, we draw upon the multiple methods of our 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 a period 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; and 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.

The following courses may be used to fulfill optional 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

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 165/265. Philosophy of Physics

PHIL 167A/267A. Philosophy of Biology

PHIL 167B/267B. Philosophy, Biology, and Behavior

PHIL 224. Kant's Philosophy of Physical Science

PHIL 224A. Math in Kant's Philosophy

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. What is Science? Explaining Nature from Pythagoras to Popper

FRENGEN 295. Science, Technology, and Society in Europe and the U.S.: Ethical Debates and Controversies

HISTORY 142/342. Darwin in History of Life

HISTORY 208A/308A. Science and the Law in History

HISTORY 232F/332F. The Scientific Revolution

HISTORY 241F/341F. History of the Modern Fact

HISTORY 241G/341G/STS 134/234. History of the Senses

HISTORY 241S. Science and Culture Wars

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 144/344. Gender in Science, Medicine, and Engineering

HISTORY 242G. Representing the World: Maps, Statistics, and Photography

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

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