History of Knowledge

COURSE OBJECTIVE
After completing this course, students will:
- have an understanding of the main historical developments that formed our idea of what scientific knowledge is;
- understand how a number of institutions helped to form, keep and pass on this knowledge;
- have a broad overview of different styles of practicing science;
- be able to reflect on the position of their own discipline within the greater scheme of all academic knowledge.

COURSE CONTENT
In the course History of Knowledge we will focus on questions about what knowledge is and what was seen as valuable knowledge, from classical antiquity up until today, and the way this knowledge was passed through during time, with special attention for the institutions that played a major role in the process: the library, monasteries, the university, the Republic of Letters, the Museum, the new disciplines of the 19th century, the laboratory and the latest developments in the e-humanities. The students will learn about different styles and methods to develop new knowledge, preserve existing knowledge, and the coherence and differences between the sciences and the humanities.

TEACHING METHODS
Lectures

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Final written examination. The grade for the examination is the final grade.