History 4302: Magic, Science, and the Occult
from Antiquity to NewtonHistory 4302: Magic, Science, and the Occult
from Antiquity to NewtonThis course explores the early history of humans' attempts to explain and control the cosmos, taking into account the real contributions made to early science by areas of inquiry now dismissed as magic or superstition, such as astrology, alchemy, and "natural magic."
One major theme of the course
will be the continuing way in which societies have policed the
boundary between what they define as "magic" and what
they dub legitimate "science." The course will end around
1700, with Newton and the so-called "Scientific Revolution,"
and the marginalization of astrology, alchemy, and similar fields
of inquiry as "pseudo-sciences" or popular error.
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Magic, Science and the Occult: Tentative Outline of Topics and Assignments |
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Module 0. Introduction.
This module introduces students to the WebCT environment for the course, to the instructor and each other, and to the major themes of the course. Students will learn how difficult it is to construct a universally-applicable definition for the words "magic" and "science" and will become familiar with major scholarly approaches to the history of science and magic.
Topics: Introduction to WebCT; What is magic? What is science?; Approaches to the history of science and magic
Activities: Post introductions; visit selected web sites and categorize as "magic" or "science" and post to threaded discussion; self-test
Reading: Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, Foreword to the Canto edition, preface, and ch. 1; web sites as assigned
Module must be completed by January 22, 2006, at 11:59 p.m.
Module 1. The Ancient World.
This module begins the discussion of how societies define magic and science by looking at the emergence of "rational science" in the ancient world. Students will see the ways in which "science" opposed itself to "magic" while discovering attitudes about "magic" in the ancient world. A second major theme will be the rise of Christianity and its effects on magic and science in the ancient world.
Topics: Science before the Greeks; Greek science; Magic and rationality in the ancient world; The rise of Christianity; Neoplatonism and demons in late antiquity; The triumph of Christianity and its effects
Activities: Threaded discussions on magic and rationality in the ancient world and on conflicts between Christianity and "magic"; quiz
Reading: Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, ch. 2; Hippocrates, On the Sacred Disease; Lucan, Pharsalia 6.413-830; Apuleius, Apology (On Magic), selections; Theocritus, Idylls 2; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 8.7.9-10; Apocryphal Acts of Peter
Module must be completed by February 13, 2006, at noon.
Module 2. The Middle Ages.
This module looks at the relationship between "magic" and "science" in medieval Europe. One major theme will be the development of rational natural philosophy in the twelfth century. Another theme will be the contributions of the Arabic world to medieval "science," which in many cases brought in a wealth of material that could be considered "magical," for which medieval scholars used the term "natural magic."
Topics: The rise of magic in the early Middle Ages?; Science in the early Middle Ages; The twelfth-century discovery of nature; Astronomy and astrology; Alchemy and mineralogy; Medicine and healing; Magic and learning at court
Activities: Threaded discussions on medieval natural philosophy and definitions of licit and illicit magic, as seen in literature; quiz
Reading: Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, ch. 3-5; Adelard of Bath, selections; medieval natural philosophy, selections (Albertus Magnus, Pierre d'Ailly); the Donum Dei; Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès (selections); Chaucer, "The Franklin's Tale"
Module must be completed by March 6, 2006, at noon.
Module 3. Tensions between Magic and Science in the Renaissance.
This module looks at growing tensions between a legitimate "science" or natural philosophy and what its practitioners dub illegitimate or forbidden magic. A major theme is the tension between proponents of "natural magic" and those who see all magical activities as involving illicit commerce with demons. As the natural magic that arrived from the Arabic world becomes more prominent, there are increasing concerns about the rise of illicit magical activities as well.
Topics: Sorcery, demonology, and forbidden magic; Magic, science, and the universities; The rise of the witch trials; Renaissance Neoplatonic magic; The occult, science, and the new print culture
Activities: Threaded discussion on spiritual and demonic magic; quiz
Reading: Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, ch. 6, 8; Ficino, Three Books of Life (selections); Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century (selections); witch trial transcript
Module must be completed by March 20, 2006, at noon.
Module 4. The Scientific Revolution.
This module addresses the major changes taking place from 1450-1700 in the content of knowledge about the natural world as well as in the ways that knowledge was produced, changes collectively known as "The Scientific Revolution." Students will explore the role of magic and the occult sciences in those changes, as well as the social milieu in which those profound changes in natural philosophy took place.
Topics: The revolution in astronomy; Alchemy and the new Paracelsian science; Collecting, museums, and the new science; The revolution in method; The social setting of the new science; Protestants, Catholics, and science in early modern Europe
Activities: View Paracelsus exhibit on line; Threaded discussions on Galileo, The Starry Messenger, excerpts (or Letter to the Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615---on line); Tommasso Campanella, The City of the Sun (on line); Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis; quiz
Reading: Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, ch. 1, pp. 15-64; Galileo, The Starry Messenger, excerpts (on line); Campanella, The City of the Sun; Bacon, The New Atlantis
Module must be completed by April 18, 2006, at noon.
Module 5. The New Science vs. the Old Magic.
This module looks at the marginalization of formerly accepted topics (natural magic, astrology, alchemy, so-called "popular superstition") in the wake of the Scientific Revolution. The thesis will be that social factors, more than "scientific" factors explain the reason for the dismissal of "magic" in the late seventeenth century.
Topics: Astrology, magic, and civil disorder in the 16th and 17th centuries; The attack on popular culture; The decline of magic?
Activities: threaded discussion on Browne; paper due at end of module.
Reading: Sir Thomas Browne (1646; 6th ed., 1672), Pseudodoxia Epidemica (Vulgar Errors) III.xiii (on line); Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, chapter 2, pp. 65-117.
Module must be completed by May 1, 2006, at noon.
Module 6. Newton: The End of the Story?
Isaac Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy has traditionally been seen as marking the completion of the Scientific Revolution, establishing the content of physics until the early 20th century and enshrining the new scientific method. But is Newton really such an end point? This final section of the course examines the entirity of Newton's thought, situating his celebrated accomplishments in the context of his sincere commitment to alchemy and to a particular brand of apocalypticism that made Newton view himself as the harbinger of a new age of inspired, enlightened men.
Topics: Newton; Modernism and rationality
Activities: Final exam
Reading: Shapin, The Scientific Revolution, chapter 3, pp. 119-65; Newton, Principia (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), selections (on line)
Course must be completed by May 11, 2006, at 11:59 p.m.
