Teaching Early Modern Philosophy Of Science

2019 Conference

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University of Bristol, 27 March 2019

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A great chasm of knowledge and skills exists between practitioners and students of the history of philosophy, history of science, and history of the philosophy of science. Especially when these disciplines centre on the early modern period, we find a gap between linguistic competences (Latin, French, German, Italian), mathematical and scientific competences (geometry, physical mathematics, physics), and historiographical competences (reading skills, methods in archival research). Practitioners may be excellent researchers but face immense difficulty in developing pedagogical tools to facilitate the development of these competences within the fields of history of philosophy and science. TEMPOS 2019 aims to address these urgent but under-examined aspects of teaching history and philosophy of science, with a special focus on early modern philosophy of science and metaphysics.

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The conference at the University of Bristol will be the first of a series of conferences to take place annually at institutions around the UK. It is dedicated to two concrete tasks:

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1. It will bring together a group of experts to engage in a series of panel discussions on particular aspects of teaching early modern philosophy of science and metaphysics in order to identify the main teaching challenges, and possible strategies to overcome these.

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2. It will provide a forum for the formation of a new network, 'Teaching Early Modern Philosophy of Science' (TEMPOS), for UK- and Ireland-based researchers and lecturers, which will pursue a long-term project of developing and implementing teaching strategies that address the particular challenges faced by those teaching the history and philosophy of science and metaphysics at UK and Irish universities.