SCIN425

A review of the history of scientific ideas and the methods of analysis and evaluation of these ideas, followed by an exploration of ways authors have been influenced by natural philosophy, science, and popular attitudes toward science throughout various periods of history. Secondary sources will be examined to illustrate how scholars have viewed such influences. Certain primary readings will be studied in depth: Dostoyevsky's Notes From The Underground, as a reaction to scientific determinism; Hawthorne's short stories, and the treatment of science as sin, among others. Students are expected to present a major paper.