HONR 2300 - Science and Society

4 credit hours
This seminar examines the paradigm shifts in scientific thought during the 16^th-18^th centuries that fundamentally changed the kinds of questions people asked and the methods and tools they developed to answer those questions. Understanding science as a function of human society, this course examines not only intellectual revolutions, but also how modes of science responded to and influenced daily life, social order, issues of race, class, and gender, perceptions of humanity and the self, global worldviews, and perceptions of the relationship between humans and the natural environment. Topics may include physics and astronomy, alchemy and chemistry, medicine, mapping, timekeeping, mathematics, biology, and early mechanics and industry. The lab component of the seminar allows students to explore first-hand the iterative process of science in both its historical and contemporary applications.