Content
This course is an introduction to the history of science in the Middle Ages and focuses on the ways that scholars understood and interpreted the natural world from the late Roman period to the high Middle Ages. It examines the kinds of questions that medieval scholars asked and the problems that interested them, the evidence that they used to develop their ideas, and the contexts in which they wrote and studied. The geographical focus of the course is primarily western Europe, although we will also examine issues such as the introduction of Arabic science into the west and, for some topics, consider how different strands of thought (e.g. based in Greek and Latin traditions) affected the discussion of scientific ideas.
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will have:
- gained a broad knowledge of the history of science in the Middle Ages, and how approaches to studying the history of science in the Middle Ages have changed over time;
- learned how to examine and analyse complex and fragmentary sources;
- developed their analytical and critical skills in using evidence and scholarship;
- advanced their skills in analysing historical changes over a long period of time.
Assessment
Students will write an essay of maximum 3,500 words which will form a starting point for discussion in the oral exam. During the oral exam the students will also be asked about other topics discussed in class.
This course is an introduction to the history of science in the Middle Ages and focuses on the ways that scholars understood and interpreted the natural world from the late Roman period to the high Middle Ages. It examines the kinds of questions that medieval scholars asked and the problems that interested them, the evidence that they used to develop their ideas, and the contexts in which they wrote and studied. The geographical focus of the course is primarily western Europe, although we will also examine issues such as the introduction of Arabic science into the west and, for some topics, consider how different strands of thought (e.g. based in Greek and Latin traditions) affected the discussion of scientific ideas.
Expected Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will have:
- gained a broad knowledge of the history of science in the Middle Ages, and how approaches to studying the history of science in the Middle Ages have changed over time;
- learned how to examine and analyse complex and fragmentary sources;
- developed their analytical and critical skills in using evidence and scholarship;
- advanced their skills in analysing historical changes over a long period of time.
Assessment
Students will write an essay of maximum 3,500 words which will form a starting point for discussion in the oral exam. During the oral exam the students will also be asked about other topics discussed in class.
- Teacher: Helen Foxhall FORBES