261047 History of Science and Technology in Intercultural Perspective (S) (SoSe 2016)

The course will focus on the conceptual development of major fields of the natural sciences. The cognitive development of science as well as its social and cultural embedding will be addressed. One of the topics treated concerns the early rise of scientific study in various cultures, in particular, the ancient Middle East, the Graeco-Roman World and China. Another major topical area concerns Arabic science in the Middle Ages and its impact on the genesis of modern science in the Renaissance. The early development of modern science (Galileo, Newton) and its ramification into a dynamics of technological change in the eighteenth and nineteenth century will be discussed as well. Particular stress is laid on the institutional development of science in Germany in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. After a survey of the various trajectories of scientific development in different regions and historical epochs, the so-called “Needham Puzzle” and the “Weber Question” will be addressed: Given the fact that Chinese science and technology was highly developed in the early modern period, why did the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution not occur in China? The final topical area concerns the most recent development of science under conditions of globalization, and the relationship between science, politics and modern society.