Scientific Practices and Discourses

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

The curricular unit is developed in a system of multitutorial seminars given by several experts using the following methodologies:
- expository method, complemented by students bibliographic and Web inquiries
- possible use of blended learning models, supported by a platform like Moodle
- encouragement and participation in workshops, conferences and debates
- oral presentations and continuous email support
- bibliography and other relevant content will be provided via online environments

Evaluation: A small research project within one of the course themes will culminate in an oral presentation at a public session and the delivery of a written report formatted as a paper. The submission of this work to a national or international is encouraged.

Learning Outcomes

This curricular unit aims to:

- present the nature of science and a wide-ranging approach of changes in scientific thought;

- focus on fundamental aspects of the complex dynamics of epistemological and cultural factors which contribute to changes in science.

Students who successfully complete this subject are expected to:

- acquire an effective grasp of the historiography of science

- have a deep knowledge of important methods to analyze the historical development of science

- comprehend the historical dimension of the scientific knowledge

- be able to analyze and critiquing arguments given by different historians

- develop research skills in the area

- gain correct knowledge of the documentation and citation techniques used in HoST

- acquire essay writing competencies in particular the capability to synthesize and discuss different viewpoints as well as to present new arguments.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Historiography of science

Scientific methods and discourses

Nature as a workshop beyond the laboratory walls

Instruments and objects in the construction of scientific knowledge

Scientific imagery and representation

Amateurs and professionals: The era of pre-professionalization, classification, collecting, academicism

Popular science collections

Head Lecturer(s)

Décio Ruivo Martins

Assessment Methods

Evaluation
oral presentation at a public session and the delivery of a written report formatted as a paper: 100.0%

Bibliography

Golinski, Making natural knowledge, CUP, 1998

Vincent, Belmar et Sánchez, L’émergence d’une science des manuels, Paris: EAC, 2003

Stebbins, Amateurs, Professionals, and Serious Leisure, McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press, 1992

Niaz, Critical Appraisal of Physical Science as a Human Enterprise–Dynamics of Scientific Progress, Springer, 2009

Knight, The Nature of Science, A. Deutsch, 1976

Olby (eds) Companion to the History of Modern Science, Routledge, 1996

Buchwald, Scientific Practice. Theories & Stories of Doing Physics. UCP, 1995

Kragh, Introdução à Historiografia da Ciência. Porto Edª, 2003

Olesko, Physics as a Calling: Discipline & Practice in the Konigsburg Seminar for Physics. Cornell HoS Series, 1991

Machamer (eds) Scientific Controversies. Philosophical and Historical Perspetives, OUP, 2000

Dear, Discipline and Experience. UCP, 1995

Shapin & Schaffer, Leviathan & the Air-Pump. Princeton,1985

Grattan-Guinness, Companion Encyclopedia of the History & Philosophy of the Mathematical Sciences, 2 v, JHU Press, 2003