Unit rationale, description and aim

Set against the backdrop of the accumulated scientific knowledge of the ancient and medieval worlds, this unit will explore the origins, development and impact of modern science from the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through to Darwinian evolution and the emergence of science as a discipline in the nineteenth century. Through engagement with exemplary scientific works such as Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Bacon's New Organon and Darwin's Origins of the Species, students will consider how, why and with what consequences western understanding of the natural world has changed over the last 500 years, and the ways science has interacted with and influenced society, culture and religion the world over. Students will also engage with other traditions that have informed the development of scientific thinking in western culture, including Islamic scientific advances of the medieval period and after.

The aim of this unit is to deepen students' understanding of the centrality of science to the development of western society and culture since the early modern era.

2026 10

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  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance

Prerequisites

Nil

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Identify key developments in, and major debates su...

Learning Outcome 01

Identify key developments in, and major debates surrounding, the history of science since c.1500
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Analyse, evaluate and contextualise major scientif...

Learning Outcome 02

Analyse, evaluate and contextualise major scientific works in a humanities context
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Locate, interrogate and synthesise information fro...

Learning Outcome 03

Locate, interrogate and synthesise information from a range of primary and secondary sources to investigate a particular event, period, theme, or issue in the history of science since c. 1500, and communicate findings with sophistication
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Apply knowledge and skills to formulate intellectu...

Learning Outcome 04

Apply knowledge and skills to formulate intellectually-grounded, evidence-based judgments about the history of science since c.1500
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Content

Topics may include: 

  • Scientific knowledge in the ancient and medieval worlds
  • The origins and nature of the Scientific Revolution in Western Europe
  • Debating the Scientific Revolution
  • The advent of the theory of natural selection and evolution
  • The Einsteinian Revolution
  • Medicine and modern science
  • Science and religion 
  • Science, race and empire
  • Science and art
  • Non-western and Indigenous knowledge of the natural world
  • Science and women
  • Climate science and social debate

Assessment strategy and rationale

To help students to understand the importance of science to the development of western society and culture since c. 1600, it is essential that they acquire a knowledge of key developments in, and major debates surrounding, its history. The Knowledge Development Task allows students to develop, apply and demonstrate such foundational knowledge.

Third-year students are expected to be able to apply high-level undergraduate skills in their work. The Research Task gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their independent research skills, including locating, analysing, contextualising and synthesising a range of primary and secondary sources, presented as an evidence-based argument on a particular aspect of the history of science since c. 1600.

The Bachelor of Arts (Western Civilisation) aims to encourage students to think flexibly and creatively, transferring and applying learning from one context to another. Students at the end of this unit should have the knowledge and skills to be able to connect themes, debates and events discussed over the course of the unit. The Summative Task gives students the opportunity to apply such knowledge and skills in answering a question, or questions, relating to the unit as a whole.

Overview of assessments

Assessment 1: Knowledge Development Task This ta...

Assessment 1: Knowledge Development Task

This task requires students to read and discuss a selection of texts relating to the history of science since c. 1600–1700.

Weighting

25%

Learning Outcomes LO1
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC4, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Assessment 2: Research Task This task requires s...

Assessment 2: Research Task

This task requires students to use a range of primary and secondary sources to construct an evidence-based written response to a set question relating to a particular aspect of the history of science since c. 1600–1900.

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO2, LO3, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Assessment 3: Summative Task This task requires ...

Assessment 3: Summative Task

This task requires students to use knowledge and skills acquired or developed over the course of the unit to answer a question or series of questions relating to the unit as a whole.

Weighting

35%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5, GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. This unit will be taught face-to-face in small groups with a Socratic method that encourages participatory learning and discussion. The unit will employ two formal methods of learning and teaching: lectures and seminars. Lectures are designed to introduce students to key developments, themes, interpretations and debates relating to the history of science, and to the great scientific works that lie at the heart of the unit. In this way, lectures will also establish a framework appropriate for independent student learning. Seminars are intended to provide students with a supportive peer-to-peer learning environment in which they can engage meaningfully with the textual case studies chosen for the unit. Seminars may take a variety of forms, all of which provide different learning opportunities, including: working in pairs to share ideas; working in small groups for quick analysis, debate and identification of the most relevant and salient facts and theories; opportunities to brainstorm; opportunities to participate in whole group discussions; opportunities to learn through informal presentations.

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Anstey, P. R. and A. Vanzo. Experimental Philosophy and the Origins of Empiricism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Bacon, F. The New Organon, eds L. Jardine and M. Silverthorne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Darwin, C. The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species, annotated by J. T. Costa. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2009.

Du Châetlet, Émilie. Selected Philosophical and Scientific Writings, eds Judith P. Zinsser and Isabelle Bour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Galileo. Galileo: Selected Writings, eds W. R. Shea and M. Davie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Henry, J. The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science. 3rd edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Kuhn, T. S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 4th edition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2012.

Mermin, M. D. It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Newton, I. The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, eds I. B. Cohen and A. Whitman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

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