OVERVIEW

The course of History of Science and Technology in the Age of Enlightenment provides students with an adequate and exhaustive general preparation, regarding the historical phase of growth and maturation of scientific culture and technical knowledge in Italy and Europe, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reconstructing and describing contexts and lines of development, in a critical way – teaching to use of primary sources, outlining an era and its protagonists starting from them, analyzingthe historical processes, also rereading important pages of historiography –, studying the main phases of scientific-technical evolution from the death of Galileo until the crisis and the sunset of the Italian and European Enlightenment, using the most up-to-date tools of the Anglo-Saxon cultural history. The contents concern the cultural and political-social history of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment codification of the scientific revolution and the developments of sciences.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The contents of the course concern the cultural and socio-political history of the 18th century from the crisis of European conscience at the beginning of the century to the French Revolution, the Enlightenment codification of the scientific revolution and the developments of 18th-century sciences and techniques. Aim of the course is providing adequate preparation on the history of the Enlightenment, using the growth of technical-scientific knowledge as a privileged observatory for analysis.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Specifically, it aims to provide students with a network of basic knowledge about: tradition of Tuscan Galileanism and its contributions to the rise of the eighteenth-century Italian Enlightenment (in practice the origins and seventeenth-century roots of the Enlightenment in the spaces of the ancient Italian states of ancient regime), French and continental Cartesianism, the Baconian heritage and its recovery,  the new Newtonian synthesis and the developments of it, throughout the eighteenth century Anglo-European encyclopedism. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, to highlight, adequately, the intellectual growth of scientific knowledge, keeping, in the background, the necessary political, social and religious contexts (in the wake – here – of the teachings of Richard Samuel Westfall); on the other, to highlight selected and salient aspects of eighteenth-century life, grasping the contribution of science to the birth of Enlightenment philosophy and using, jointly, the latter two, as a sort of privileged lens, in order to study moments and important characters of Western history, illuminating it and avoiding at the same time the supine and preconceived acceptance of epistemological ruptures at all costs, in favor of a representation of the Enlightenment scientific culture that privileges, with due and right attention to the facts, the indelible lines of continuity and transformation of knowledge (like Bernard Cohen). The aim of the course is to introduce relevant cultural and scientific issues (from a humanistic point of view), so that the course participants acquire the necessary knowledge. At the end of the course, the student will be able to master and understand closely knowledge, otherwise complex, which will be the task of the teacher to have made clear and accessible to all during the teaching activity. The hope is that the student acquires the fundamental knowledge (and ability to deal with them) regarding the topics of the course. Students are expected to have adequate basic knowledge at a good level. The evaluation will take into account the level of learning and the ability to rework achieved, by virtue of a didactic load made up of lectures (with discussions) and the reading of the books. The course exists to illustrate the scientific and cultural history, both European and Italian, from the crisis of the late-Baroque consciousness to the Napoleonic age. The lessons, which will follow a useful chronological trend, will be structured by the teacher also by themes, therefore in a monographic key. Much space will be given to any questions from the students, which can also serve as a stimulus and cue, to carry out specific insights, and hold ad hoc lessons. More specifically, students – provided by the teacher with the appropriate and indispensable tools – will be asked the following:

- understanding of the meaning of the discipline, which in the present case constitutes the bridgehead and the term of connection between the humanistic world and scientific reality;

- knowledge of the historical contexts of reference (the background, therefore);

- knowledge of the main authors (the historical-social actors, therefore), of their itinerary and of their major works;

- knowledge of the network in which the new technical-scientific knowledge of the modern age circulated;

- knowledge and understanding of the close mutual (two-way) interrelationship between science and technology;

- ability to evaluate, objectively and without prejudice (without judging a posteriori, therefore), the historical transformations that took place in the universe of European science, between the second half of seventeenth century and late eighteenth century, as well as their causes, their methods and their factual consequences;

- knowledge and understanding of the major historical connections and intersections.

PREREQUISITES

A good basic knowledge of modern history and of the history of modern philosophy.

TEACHING METHODS

The lessons will be frontal, using the most up-to-date tools of the Anglo-Saxon cultural history. The lessons, which will follow a useful chronological trend, will be structured by the teacher also by themes, therefore in a monographic key. Much space will be given to any questions from the students, which can also serve as a stimulus and inspiration, to carry out specific insights, and hold ad hoc lessons, also rereading important pages of historiography.

The teacher does not activate distance learning tools beyond what is provided by the University in the event of an alert. In any case, there is no difference in the program for those who cannot attend classes. Some texts, whose reading is optional and purely indicative, will be available during the course on the Teaching Team.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities (SLD) can find guidance on requesting services, compensatory tools, or dispensatory measures, and specific aids in the document available at the following link: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Outlines of historical development of scientific and technical knowledge from the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth century, between history and historiography. Social spaces and academic contexts: the cultural network between the XVIIth century and the Age of Enlightenment.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

A text chosen from the following ones:

• D. Arecco, Virtute e canoscenza. Una storia della scienza e della tecnica moderne, Padova, libreriauniversitaria.it edizioni, 2017.
• A. Clericizio, La macchina del mondo. Teorie e pratiche scientifiche dal Rinascimento a Newton, Roma, Carocci, 2005.
• A. Clericizio, Uomo e natura. Scienza, tecnica e società dall’antichità all’età moderna, Roma, Carocci, 2022.
• A. Bernardoni-M. Segala, Storia della scienza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024.
• M. Ciardi, Storia del pensiero scientifico, Roma, Carocci, 2025.

A text chosen from the following ones:

• D. Arecco, Navigatori, scienziati e viaggiatori. Scoprire e disegnare il globo da Cristoforo Colombo al capitano Cook, Castel Negrino, VirtuosaMente, 2016.

• S. Rotta, Geminiano Montanari e altri studi di storia della scienza nella prima età moderna, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2020.
• F. Klemm, Storia della tecnica, Bologna, Odoya, 2014.
• AA.VV., Storia della tecnologia, IV, La rivoluzione industriale, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2013.
• R. Holmes, L’età della meraviglia, Milano, Garzanti, 2023.
• M.E. Schwab-A. Grafton, L’arte della scoperta. Scavare nel passato nell’Europa del Rinascimento, Roma, Carocci, 2024.
• D. Arecco, Nova Scientia. Italia, Francia e stati tedeschi dal Barocco ai Lumi, Castel Negrino, Virtuosa-Mente, 2019. 
• M. Ciardi, Le metamorfosi di Atlantide, Roma, Carocci, 2011.
• AA.VV., Voci del Barocco. Letteratura, arte e scienza, Roma, Aracne, 2026. 
• I. Luzzana Caraci, Al di là di altrove, I, Storia delle esplorazioni geografiche, Milano, Mursia, 2024 (in particolare le pp. 88-301).
• A. Vaglica, Il codice laurenziano Antinori 17. Trascrizione del manoscritto dei Della Volpaia, Firenze, XV-XVI secolo, Amazon, 2024.
• A. Bernardoni, Leonardo ingegnere, Roma, Carocci, 2020.
• R. Minuti, L'Oriente nella cultura europea del lungo '700, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 2024. 
• R. Minuti, Una geografia politica della diversità. Studi su Montesquieu, Napoli, Liguori, 2016. 
• R. Minuti, Montesquieu et les philosophies de l'histoire au XVIIIe siècle, Napoli, Liguori, 2014. 
• M. Ciardi, Avogadro, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2026. 
• S. Conrad, Verso il mondo moderno. Una storia culturale, Torino, Einaudi, 2017 . 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 19, 2027. 

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students are expected to be attracted to the exam interview with adequate basic knowledge, at a good level. The assessment will take into account the level of learning and the ability to rework achieved.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The exam is, always and only, oral. The exam brings two texts, according to the reading program indicated. The books published by Città del silenzio Edizioni can be ordered, directly, to the publisher, with an email to: info@cittadelsilenzio.it, or buy at the Bozzi Library in Genoa, or even online (on ibs, unilibro, webster, bol, etc.). It can also be very useful, if the idea is shared by everyone, to create a What's App Group of the Course. Some lessons of the course will have a seminar character: some teachers and experts in the field will be hosted, in the presence of the owner, who will make their skills available to students.