History of Knowledge

Full course description

Why do specific people in certain social contexts come up with novel explanations of the world? To what extent does technological change explain historical and scientific progress? How has the nature of discovery changed over the course of history? What determines the consequences of new ideas? How do scientific innovations relate to other societal institutions, such as religion, the economy, and the state? The course explores these and related questions by analyzing the dynamic relationships between scientific thought, technological innovations, and broader social contexts of religion, art, politics, and morality. We will do this by paying attention to both large, structural changes in scientific institutions as well as micro-histories of particular discoverers and innovators credited (or not credited) with developing new theories, technologies, and ways of thinking. At the same time, we will learn about the ‘history of history’, or what historians call historiography. With a focus on issues of science and technology, we will cover different approaches to history and discuss how these afford us different types of understandings of the past. Throughout the course, we will utilize concepts from history and philosophy of science, science and technology studies, cultural studies, and related disciplines to shed light on our guiding question: what is the history of knowledge?