220067 Evolution of the Modern Science System (S) (SoSe 2026)

The modern science system is the result of a centuries-long evolution of scientific institutions, and their relationship with each other as well as with other societal institutions such as government, the economy, and religious organizations. In the seminar, we will read and discuss texts dealing with specific parts of the scientific system. These include the role of religious orders, the context of the absolutist court, and the impact of scientific academies in the early modern period. In then nineteenth century, the role of the professional scientist (the word was coined in the 1830s), and the rise of the research university played a huge role. At the same time, bourgeois values and professionalization led to the intensification of the exclusion of women, when compared with the 17th and 18th centuries. In the twentieth century, new demands led to new organizational forms, sometimes called Big Science.