History of Science Online - Course Info - Time tips - Semester Schedule - Weekly Assignments - Timeline - Projects - Week 6: Roman Science

Interpretation essay

#	Due Date	Pts	Activity	Time
4	Friday 11:59 p.m.	10	Interpretation Essay Unless it explains, history is trivial. Here you will write a short persuasive essay agreeing or disagreeing with a common interpretation about the primary source or topic and expressing your own view	60 min.

Sic et Non

The statements below advance interpretations which you may defend, refute, modify or re-define. Choose one of these statements and defend your interpretation of it in a 600-1200 word essay posted on Yuku. Informed and documented essays are more persuasive than arguments from ignorance, so make sure that your essay shows a reflective engagement with the background and primary source readings.

1. Discuss and explain: "One of the most important contributions of the Roman empire to Western civilization was the legacy of Roman law. In the same way, Roman-era natural philosophers from Galen to Cicero to Basil to Boethius, and even Roman encyclopedists from Pliny to Isidore, bequeathed to later cultures a profound confidence in the lawful order of nature, the idea that nature is governed not by chance but by intelligible, unalterable natural laws. The only exceptions to this rule, such as Lucretius, found few followers in this period."
    
2. What were the most important contributions of theistic perspectives to understanding "What is nature?" and "How is nature known?" Use the examples of Basil, Philoponos and Augustine to illustrate your points.
    
3. The following caricatures of Roman-era science are unfortunately widespread. Discuss and critique any one of them on the basis of both your textbook and the primary source excerpts:
   1. "Roman scientific endeavor represented a sudden decline and major loss of the impetus of Hellenistic science, because Romans were more interested in ethical philosophy than inquiry into the causes of things."
   2. "The suffocating authority of Aristotle's cosmology, which was virtually unquestioned during the Roman empire, stifled the growth of science in Latin Europe."
   3. "The rise of Christianity and the decline of ancient science go hand in hand, because of the Christian impulse to attribute everything to God and consequently to ignore or even suppress investigation of natural causes."
   4. "Galen's medical theories doomed the history of medicine in later centuries to an endless series of fruitless speculations based not on first-hand anatomical experience so much as on hearsay and the authority of others."

Instructions for Interpretation assignments: Take one of the questions or points of view listed here and consider how it relates to the assigned readings for this week. Consider both Reading 1 and Reading 2 assignments, whenever applicable. Write a short essay defending your thesis and/or refuting competing interpretations. An Interpretation essay must express a point of view, supporting that argument with specific evidence gathered from the assigned readings. Your Interpretation essay should be at least 600 words long, and not more than 1200 words (you can do a word count at Motionnet.com). This word count does NOT include the original question you are responding to, any quotations from assigned readings, or the two notes at the end of the essay. Spellcheck, word count, and proofread your essay. Since this is a longer writing assignment, you will probably want to use the spellcheck and word-count features in your word processor. In a one or two sentence note at the end of your essay (not part of the word-count), indicate why you chose to respond to that issue and how you came up with the interpretation. In a one-sentence note after your essay (not part of the word-count), identify which style or genre you selected (analytical, narrative, dialogue, etc.) and explain why you thought that would be the most effective way to convey your interpretation. Include reference citations or links to any textbook, website, course page, or Exhibits Online that are closely related to your Interpretation (e.g., "For Redondi's view, go here: insert link"). Additional reading beyond course assignments is not required, but you must include at least two citations or links to assigned readings that provide evidence and relevant historical context. These two sources must be either primary sources that pertain to the topic and come from the period being discussed or secondary sources (e.g., one of our textbooks or assigned web pages) written with demonstrable knowledge of the relevant primary sources (for example, in addition to the assigned background readings, professional historians of science may be assumed to be familiar with the sources they write about; see guidelines for evaluating sources). An argument that is not supported with documented evidence does not meet the minimum requirements for an Interpretation essay. For citations and links, use the forms described in the bibliographical guidelines. (For example, a citation to our text could be "Lindberg, Beginnings, p. #." ) Cut-and-paste your completed essay, with notes and links, and post it in the Interpretation forum for this week at the Yuku discussion board. After you have posted your Interpretation, complete the Gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn. (Your Gradebook Declaration is subject to the Honor Code.)

	HSCI 3013. History of Science to 17th century Kerry Magruder, 2004-08 Report typos or broken links Many thanks to Mythology and Folklore and other online courses developed by Laura Gibbs.	Search course websites:
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