PH 180: Science and Philosophy

In this course, we will study the origin of science in Western philosophy. Beginning where we are, we will first clarify what science is today in the United States, and then we will read texts by some of the earliest thinkers in the history of Western philosophy, including the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle as well as Lucretius and Sextus Empiricus, to learn how science began and developed in the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. Throughout the course, we will examine basic concepts in epistemology, including truth and falsity, belief and knowledge, sensation and reasoning, and Dogmatism and Skepticism, as we learn how the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome—specifically, their philosophical dimensions—shaped the worldviews of individuals, just as the civilization of the United States today shapes our own individual views of science.