HPS211H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Scientific Revolution, Whiggism, Whig History
9 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Conventional stories of science and discoveries are oversimplified. Whig history: treats the past as stepping stones to the present and assumes that the present is better than the past. Concern that science is contaminated by values. Origins of the history of science emerged in 18th century. Whewell (1837), history of the inductive sciences, coined scientist , knowledge is imposed by the human mind, thought scientists may be faced with some things that could only be explained by divine intervention, Darwin continued galileo"s war" between science and religion. Whitehead (1926), suggested that science was started to simply look for evidence revealing divine purpose. Marxists, bernal, commitment to use science to work toward good for all, not the military-industrial complex, challenged that rise of science was progressive for humans but as a way to master nature. Flourished after wwii due to concerns of science"s part in warfare.
