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2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

HPSC2115 Introduction to Reading Texts in the History of Ideas

10 creditsClass Size: 100

Module manager: Dr. Adrian Wilson
Email: A.F.Wilson@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

This module is mutually exclusive with

HPSC2101	Scientific Texts in Context
HPSC2105	Introduction to Scientific Texts in Context
HPSC2111	Reading Text: History of Ideas
HPSC2140	Scientific Texts in Context

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

In this module you will learn how to read! You may think you learnt to read at primary school, but reading historical documents requires special reading skills. For example, in order to understand an historical document you will need to appreciate what type of document it is and for whom it was written. Thus published books directed at a wide but often specific audience need to be read differently from, say, private letters intended for a particular recipient. You also need to understand the context in which the text was written: it may be a response to another work published by a competitor and it contain allusions to contemporary people and events. Again, it may contain a technical vocabulary that seems meaningless the present-day reader, such as the "phlogiston" theory in chemistry or the "electrotonic" state of matter. You will learn how to interrogate various kinds of document in order to ascertain their historical significance and the possible interpretations of their texts. This module is essential training for anyone with a serious interest in the history of ideas.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Interpret the arguments in a classic text from the history of science, technology and medicine;
2. Relate those arguments to the author's life and work generally;
3. Relate those arguments to the wider intellectual, cultural, social and material contexts in which the text was written;
4. Critically assess the relevant historiography;
5. Analyze the reception of the text in its own time.

Syllabus

A single text (or related group of texts) will be examined in detail and its contents related to contemporary debates and issues in context. Examples of texts selected in recent years include Francis Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients (1609), Charles Darwin's Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), and the Bridgewater Treatises on the Power, Goodness, and Wisdom of God as Manifested in the Creation (1833-36).

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	11	1.50	16.50
Private study hours			83.50
Total Contact hours			16.50
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			100.00

Private study

6 hours reading per seminar
17.5 hours essay preparation
Background reading

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Through seminar preparation and comments on essay plan submitted for written feedback by module leader.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	2,000 words	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 23/02/2017

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