Historical development of ideas about the natural world from the ancient myths and philosophies of the Middle East and Greece through the time of Galileo. Emphasis on the emergence of Greek science, science in the Middle Ages, and the Copernican Revolution. Historical development of post-Galilean science: the mechanical philosophy, Descartes, Boyle, Newton; 18th-century Newtonianism; the rise of the theory of evolution, Darwin, genetics through the discovery of DNA.
This course may not be repeated for credit.

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