Course:
Magic, Medicine, and Science
History and Philosophy of Science 0515
Summer II, 2002
Lecture: Mondays and Wednesdays 12:00—3:15, in Cathedral of Learning 249

Instructor Information:
Instructor: James Tabery
Office: Cathedral of Learning G5A
Phone#: (412)624-3181
E-mail: jgt1@pitt.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 3:15—4:30, and by appointment in CL G5A
Student Information:

(Name)										(e-mail)

(Name)										(e-mail)

Course Description and Objectives:
	Science is, in many ways, mankind’s best effort at understanding himself and the world around him. With this in mind, it can be both interesting and also incredibly enlightening to trace the origins and story of this effort: the successes and the failures, the collaborations and the competitions, the famous figures and the infamous players. This course will guide you through this story of some 2 thousand years, from Plato and Aristotle to Galileo and Isaac Newton. 
	You will be provided with all that you need to succeed. You will receive both primary sources (the actual works of Hippocrates, Islamic scientists, medieval “magicians”, etc.) and also secondary sources (the analysis of contemporary scholars interpreting these original works). By using both of these resources, we will create a dialogue between ourselves and the early scientists. We will identify the major concepts, ideas, problems, and goals that evolved over time under the variety of different figures. Your job will be to familiarize yourself with these issues and figures and also understand how they fit into the larger story.
	
Required Texts:
1.) Cohen, I. Bernard. The Birth of a New Physics. New York: W.W.Norton and Company. 1985.
2.) Lindberg, D.C. The Beginnings of Western Science. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press. 1992.
3.) Shapin, Steven. The Scientific Revolution. Chicago: Chicago University Press. 1996.
4.) Magic, Medicine, and Science Course Packet. Prepared by Jim Tabery. University of Pittsburgh: Copy Cat. 2002.

*All books and the Course Packet have been ordered by the Campus Bookstore and are available for purchase there. However, the Course Packet is the only text available solely at the Campus Bookstore. Don’t be afraid to shop around for the best deal you can find on the other three books. 

The Learning Environment:
	Material is best learned in a variety of ways. Therefore, the learning environment in the classroom will utilize many different formats. Some of the class will be lecture, where you will receive a general understanding of the most important issues for a particular topic. In addition, there will also be an extensive amount of class discussion (both between the professor and the students and among the students themselves). The goal of these class discussions will be to identify (and hopefully answer!) the many important questions that we will come across as we read the primary and secondary sources. Finally, there will also be group work. Groups will be assigned in the classroom and given different problems to solve, or issues to organize, etc. You will not receive a direct grade for group work, but it will count towards your class participation grade (see below).   

Grading: 
Your grade will be based on the following 5 criteria:
1.	Attendance and Class Participation (10 points)
2.	Quizzes (15 points: 9 quizzes=150 possible points, multiplied by 0.1)
3.	Short 4-page essay (15 points)
4.	Mid-term (30 points)
5.	Final Exam (30 points)

A+ = 100-97		C+ = 79-77
A = 96-93		C = 76-73
A- = 92-90		C- = 72-70
B+ = 89-87		D+ = 69-67
B = 86-83		D = 66-63
B- = 82-80		D- = 63-60
						F=59-0
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class (first 10 minutes). Every student is permitted one unexcused absence. After the initial absence, each additional absence will remove one point from your Attendance and Class Participation grade. Attendances may be excused with proper documentation (ex. a doctor’s excuse, etc.) Class Participation can come in a variety of ways. While some of the class will be lecture, much of it will be based on eliciting a dialogue between the students and the professor and between the students themselves. Your participation in the class discussions, your role in small group works, and any time you spend discussing the course during my office hours will all be taken into consideration when determining Class Participation. 

Quizzes will be given at the beginning of every class (except the first class and those days when the Mid-term and Final are scheduled. The quizzes will cover the readings for the material to be discussed that day. These quizzes are not designed to be difficult; rather, they are designed to motivate you to read the material before we discuss it in class. So if you’ve read the material, then you will have no problem on the quizzes. The quizzes will be almost entirely objective (True/False, Matching, Multiple Choice), but I may throw in a short answer question here and there to keep you on your toes. 

The Essay is designed to allow you to perform some historical research of your own. You will be given the option of two different essays to pick from, and you must write on one of them. The topics will take one of the issues or figures we discuss in class and explore it in more detail. 

The Mid-term and the Final are both structured exactly alike and will be worth the same amount of points (30). There will be 10 objective questions (1 point each), 5 Key Word questions (3 points each), and 1 essay question (5 points). You will receive, at the beginning of each class, several Key Words on the blackboard unique to the topic of the day. All the Key Words are in the readings, but they will be explained in greater detail during the course of the class lecture. You will then be responsible for providing one paragraph of your own account of 5 of these Key Words on the Mid-term and Final. You will have the option of choosing 5 out of 9 Key Words and 1 out of 3 essays on both exams. The Final is not cumulative; it will only cover material after the Mid-term.  
 
Class Policies:
The dates of the Mid-Term, Final Exam, and Essay are strict. If either of the exams cannot be attended, a typed explanation with appropriate documentation must be given to me before or within one week after the exam dates. Regarding the Essay, a letter grade will be lowered from the final grade for each day the paper is late. The Quizzes are more flexible. If you cannot take the Quiz on the assigned date, then you must schedule a date/time to take the Quiz within two days before or after the actual date (omitting weekends).  

Cheating/Plagiarism are widely frowned upon throughout the university and so are not taken kindly to in this class. Anyone caught cheating during a quiz or exam, or anyone caught plagiarizing an essay, will have the quiz/exam/paper confiscated, a zero will be given to the work, and the student’s action will be reported to the dean. 

Everybody has disabilities of some sort. If you have a disability that requires special testing accommodations or other classroom modifications, then please notify both the instructor and Disability Resources and Services (DRS) by the second week of class. DRS can be contacted at 648-7890 or at http://www.pitt.edu/~osaweb/drs/drs.html. This office is located in the William Pitt Union, Room 216.

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Schedule:
Monday, June 24
-Topic: Introduction 
-Readings: None
-Questions/Issues to Consider: What is science? What makes science scientific? What questions were the earliest “scientists” struggling to answer? How should we tell the history of science and medicine?  

Wednesday, June 26
-Topic: Plato
-Readings: 
1.	Lindberg: pp.35—45 
2.	Course Packet: Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic (“Reading 3”)
3.	Course Packet: Plato’s Timaeus, selections (“Reading 4”)
-Questions/Issues to Consider: What is the difference between the world of the forms and the world of reality? How does Plato display this difference with his allegory of the cave? How does Plato use his allegory of the cave to outline the best way to study nature? What is similar between Plato’s allegory and the creation story he describes in the Timaeus? How does the Timaeus compare to other creation stories with which you are familiar? What is the relationship between the Demiurge (or “the Intelligence”), the Chaos (or “the Necessity”) and the Receptacle? How is Plato scientific?  
-Important Event: Quiz #1 on Plato

Monday, July 1
-Topic: Aristotle’s Cosmology (and Ptolemy)
-Readings:
1.	Cohen: Chapter 2 (pp.11—23)
2.	Course Packet: Aristotle’s On the Heavens, selections (“Reading 5”) 
3.	Lindberg: pp.98—105 
-Questions/Issues to Consider: How does Aristotle divide the heavens from the earth? What are the natural motions of each realm? What causes these motions? What else is different between the terrestrial and the celestial spheres besides motion? How does Aristotle argue for the existence of the aether in chapter 1.2 of On the Heavens? What is the size and shape of the earth for Aristotle? What are the two factors of motion on earth? Name one problem for the physics of motion Aristotle used for motion on the earth. Why was retrograde motion a problem for an Aristotelian conception of the cosmos? What 3 factors are necessary to construct a Ptolemaic cosmos?   
-Important Event: Quiz #2 on Aristotle’s Cosmology (and Ptolemy)

Wednesday, July 3
-Topic: Aristotle’s Theory of Change and Biology
-Readings:
1.	Lindberg: 47—54, 62—68 
2.	Library Reserve: Aristotle’s Parts of Animals, selections 
-Questions/Issues to Consider: How does Aristotle diverge from the Platonic worldview? What is Aristotle’s distinction between form and matter? Why/how does Aristotle make a distinction between potential being and actual being? What are the 4 Aristotelian causes? What role does teleology play in Aristotle’s account? What is more important for Aristotle: development (“coming-to-be”) or function (“that for the sake of which”)? Can the biologist study the soul? What are the three degrees of composition for Aristotle? What organ is the seat of emotions? 
-Important Event: Quiz #3 on Aristotle’s Theory of Change and Biology

Monday, July 8
-Topic: Greek Medicine
-Readings:
1.	Lindberg: Chapter 6 (pp.111—131) 
2.	Course Packet: Hippocratic Writings, selections (“Reading 2”)
3.	Course Packet: Galen’s “The Best Constitution of Our Bodies” (“Reading 6”)
4.	Course Packet: Galen’s “Epode” (“Reading 7”)
-Questions/Issues to Consider: What was pre-Hippocratic medicine like? Why is the Hippocratic Corpus called the “Hippocratic Corpus”? How do the notions of balance and imbalance fit into Hippocratic medicine? What were some ways that Hippocratic physicians treated disease? What were the three Greek medical sects in the Hellenistic period? What made the Greek medical sects unique from each other? How does Galen’s composition of the animal body differ from Aristotle’s account of the body’s composition? What path does circulating blood take into and out of a beating heart?
-Important Event: Quiz #4 on Greek Medicine

Wednesday, July 10
-Topic: Islamic Science
-Readings:
1.	Lindberg: Chapter 8 (pp.161—182) 
2.	Course Packet: Avicenna’s “Remarks and Admonitions”, selections (“Reading 7”)
3.	Library Reserve: al-Ruhawi’s “Practical Ethics of the Physician”, intro and chapter 1 
-Questions/Issues to Consider:
-Important Event: Mid-Term in first half of class. Does NOT include Islamic Science. 

Monday, July 15
-Topic: Medieval Magic
-Readings:
1.	Course Packet: Mirandola’s “In the Beginning” (“Reading 7”)
2.	Course Packet: Ficino’s Three Books on Life, selections (“Reading 7”)
-Questions/Issues to Consider: What seems scientific about Mirandola and Ficino? What does not seem scientific? Does Mirandola see the answers to man’s questions coming from scientific progress or retrospective analysis? Whose work is Mirandola most interested in studying? What is, for Mirandola, the relationship between the three worlds and the three parts of man? How does Ficino understand the World-soul? What are some of the World-soul’s roles in the universe? Who else have we studied that showed great interest in the soul? What is the connection between man and the planets? How do we “get” things from these planets?  
-Important Event: Quiz #5 on Medieval Magic

Wednesday, July 17
-Topic: Renaissance Biology
-Readings:
1.	Course Packet: Vesalius’ On the Fabric of the Human Body, plates (“Reading 11”)
2.	Course Packet: Harvey’s Circulation of the Blood, Prelude and Introduction (“Reading 7”)
-Questions/Issues to Consider: Where is Vesalius in the title page of the Fabrica? Who do you think Vesalius used for these human dissections? Why do you think Vesalius presented the anatomical depictions in such artistic forms? How has Vesalius broken free of the Galenic tradition? What do you think this move would provide him with? What is the difference between an “Administration” and an “Anatomy”? How does Vesalius’ description of the heart differ from Harvey’s? Who does Harvey see as the architect of the standard understanding of the heart? What is the classic (pre-Harvey) understanding of the diastole and the systole? How does Harvey challenge this understanding? What mechanism does Harvey conceptualize the heart as? What types of experiments did Harvey perform to prove his revolutionary idea?   
-Important Event: Quiz #6 on Renaissance Biology 

Monday, July 22
-Topic: Copernicus
-Readings:
1.	Cohen: Chapter 3 (pp.24—52) 
-Questions/Issues to Consider:
-Important Event: Quiz #7 on Copernicus

Wednesday, July 24
-Topic: Galileo
-Readings:
1.	Cohen: Chapters 4 and 5 (pp. 53—126) 
-Questions/Issues to Consider:
-Important Event: Quiz #8 on Galileo 

Monday, July 29
-Topic: Kepler and Newton
-Readings:
1.	Cohen: Chapters 6 and 7 (pp.127—184)
-Questions/Issues to Consider: 
-Important Event: Quiz #9 on Kepler and Newton 

Wednesday, July 31 
-Topic:
-Readings:
-Questions/Issues to Consider:
-Important Event: Final Exam