IHPST Fall/Winter Courses for 2025-26
Fall Term - 20259
HPS100H1 - Introduction to History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Elise Burton and Karina Vold
An investigation of some pivotal periods in the history of science with an emphasis on the influences of philosophy on the scientists of the period, and the philosophical and social implications of the scientific knowledge, theory and methodology that emerged.
HPS110H1 - The Science of Human Nature
Marga Vicedo and Mark Solovey
Why do we do what we do? What factors play a role in shaping our personality? What biological and social elements help configure a person's moral and emotional character? In this course, we examine landmark studies that shook standard beliefs about human nature in their time. We analyze those studies in their historical context and discuss their relevance to social, ethical, and policy debates. The studies may include research on obedience, conformity, prejudice, aggression, attachment, empathy, altruism, race and gender stereotypes, happiness, resilience.
HPS200H1 - Science and Values
Yiftach Fehige
An introduction to issues at the interface of science and society. Including the reciprocal influence of science and social norms, the relation of science and religion, dissemination of scientific knowledge, science and policy. Issues may include: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons; Genetic Engineering; The Human Genome Project; Climate Change.
HPS202H1 - Technology in the Modern World
Adrien Zakar
This course examines the reciprocal relationship between technology and society since 1800 from the perspectives of race, class, and gender. From the role of European imperial expansion in 19th-century industrialization and mechanization to the development of nuclear technology, smartphones, and digital computers in the 20th century, we consider cultural responses to new technologies, and the ways in which technology operates as an historical force in the history of the modern world.
HPS203H1 - Making Sense of Uncertainty
Chen-Pang Yeang
This course examines issues of uncertainty in various contexts of science, technology, and society since the 19th century. Topics may include randomized controlled trials, statistical identification of normal and pathological, biopolitics, philosophical interpretations of probability, Brownian motions, uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, cybernetic mind, and chance in avant-garde arts.
VIC208H1 - How We Think About Life
Cory Lewis
What is the difference between living and non-living things? How should living things be classified? How do various kinds of life relate to each other and to the non-living environment? These are perennial questions, dealt with by every culture throughout history, and still debated today. This course surveys historical and cultural contexts of efforts to understand life, taxonomy, and ecology, and modern questions in the philosophy of the life sciences. The historical and cultural approach will help us to understand changing views, similarities, and differences among various understandings of life. And our approach to philosophy will be critical, asking what the best arguments for various current views are. Topics covered may include ecology, evolution, heredity, natural history, taxonomy, and definitions of life.
HPS222H1 - Science, Paradoxes, and Knowledge
Joseph Berkovitz
What is the nature of science and scientific knowledge? What is the nature of space, time and motion? Does science tell us the truth about the world? What are scientific revolutions and how they occur? The course will address these and various other questions about science. It will focus on the bearings that philosophical views had on science in different periods in history, starting from ancient Greece and concluding in the 20th C.
HPS245H1 - Visions of Society and Progress
Mark Solovey
This course explores influential visions of society and progress found in the history of the human sciences. It addresses questions such as: Are human beings naturally selfish or cooperative? Is society in harmony with the individual or opposed to the individual? It explores the significance of race, class, population growth, capitalism, and gender in debates about the good society.
HPS272H1 - Science against Religion? A Complex History
Yiftach Fehige
This course introduces students to the central topics arising from the encounter between modern science and religion. It aims to integrate historical and philosophical perspectives about science and religion. Did modern science arise because of Christianity or despite of it? Are science and religion necessarily in conflict? Have they factually always been in conflict throughout history? Are proofs of God's existence obsolete? Has science secularized society? What role should religions play in liberal democracies?
HPS301H1 - Topics in the HST
Global Natural Histories: From Ordering Nature to the Anthropocene (1400-present)
Constance De Font-Reaulx
This class explores the emergence of natural history as a discipline in Renaissance Europe and ends with the contemporary notion of the Anthropocene. This class will put natural history in its historical, cultural, spatial, and material contexts to understand how over the past five hundred years the practices, theories, and institutions of natural history have undergone many changes. Topics will include: debates over preservation; relations between natural histories and European colonial and commercial expansion; collecting and ordering the natural world; material, tools, and machines in the production of knowledge; natural history and ecology; environmental conservatism; Anthropocene.
JPH311H1 - From Universal Gravity to Quantum Information: The Making of Modern Physics
Chen-Pang Yeang
Topics in the history of physics from antiquity to the 20th century, including Aristotelian physics, Galileo, Descartes, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, relativity, quantum physics, and particle physics. The development of theories in their intellectual and cultural contexts.
HPS318H1 - History of Medicine I
TBD
This course explores how medicine was practiced, taught and theorized from ancient Greece to the early modern period. It focuses on the historical development of western medicine in relation to societies, politics and culture, and considers topics such as the creation of medical traditions, the transmission and communication of medical knowledge, the pluralistic world of healers, the role of religion, magic and natural philosophy, the cultural meaning of disease, and the emergence of institutions such as the hospital.
HPS322H1 - Complexity, Order, and Emergence
Cory Lewis
A survey of the history of and recent developments in the scientific study of complex systems and emergent order. There will be particular emphasis on the biological and cognitive sciences. Topics covered may include: mechanism and teleology in the history of science, 19th and 20th century emergentism, complex systems dynamics, order and adaptiveness, self-organization in biology and cognitive development.
HPS340H1 - The Limits of Machine Intelligence
TBD
With the recent headline-making breakthroughs in deep learning neural networks (DNNs), it might seem that we are on the cusp of living with artificial systems that match or exceed human intelligence. But there remain longstanding philosophical challenges around the definition of intelligence that AI researchers use, how they measure the performance of their systems, and what DNNS could really be capable of, that still need addressing. For example, how close are DNNs to passing the Turing test? How close are we to building general intelligence and what do we need to get us there? How can we draw fair and meaningful comparisons between artificial and biological systems? We will draw on material from the history and philosophy of science to evaluate and inform current debates around the limits of AI. For example, we’ll consider what kinds of explanations DNNs can provide. We’ll also look at how debates between the rationalists and empiricists (e.g. Locke, Hume, and Kant) inform current debates between AI nativists and empiricists. This course explores these questions through contemporary texts across the fields of philosophy of science, artificial intelligence, comparative psychology, and cognitive science, among others.
HPS370H1 - Philosophy of Medicine
Brian Baigrie
This course introduces students to philosophical issues in the study of medicine. The course will cover foundational questions, such as what constitutes evidence that a therapy is effective, how do we define health and disease, and information derived from research is used to support clinical practice. Students will be introduced to different movements in contemporary clinical medicine, such as Evidence-based Medicine, Person-Centered Healthcare, and Precision Medicine.
HPS403H1 - Vegetarianism and Veganism: Science, Technology, Human Health, Animal Welfare, and the Environment **NEW Course**
Mark Solovey
This is an advanced undergraduate seminar that examines the past, present, and future of vegetarianism and veganism, with a focus on five central themes: science, technology, human health, animal welfare, and the environment. Along the way, we will consider many other important issues and contexts as well, such as: factory farming, capitalism, social identities and inequalities associated with gender, race, and class, religious beliefs and practices, high-performance sports, and cultural resources such as documentary films, television programs and music videos. Students will engage in discussions, make class presentations, and carry out original research projects.
HPS444H1 - Health, Medicine, and Society in the Mediterranean World
Lucia Dacome
This course examines healing practices and medical knowledge in the Mediterranean world, focusing on the early modern period. We will address topics such as the interplay between medicine and religion, the relationship between patients and practitioners, and the role of women as both healers and patients and across Mediterranean shores. We will also consider how individuals in different Mediterranean regions experienced the relationship between health and the environment, explore the bearings that medical pursuits had on the creation and consolidation of notions of sex and gender, and examine how medical knowledge shaped views of the body and informed health policies.
HPS450H1 - Revolutions in Science
Joseph Berkovitz
A detailed investigation into a highly celebrated and important philosophical idea concerning the development of scientific knowledge: the notion of scientific revolutions. We will consider the process of theory change, whether theory choice is rational, and whether theoretical terms, such as light and space preserve their meanings across revolutions. In addition to classic work by Kuhn, we shall consider approaches that were inspired by Kuhn’s work. In particular, we will consider the approaches of sociologists of scientific knowledge. The course is taught as a seminar in which the students play an active role in presenting and discussing the readings.
HPS480H1 - Special Topics in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology: TBD
TBD
This course will focus on matters of special interest in the history and philosophy of science and technology. Topics will change each time the course is offered, but may include a focus on specific-time periods, fields and methods of inquiry, individuals, institutions, geographic regions, controversies, etc.
Winter Term - 20261
HPS120H1 - How to Think about Science
Cory Lewis
This course addresses the nature of science and its importance to our understanding of ourselves. Questions include: What is a science? Is science objective? What is scientific reasoning? Has our conception of science changed through history? How does science shape our moral image? Does science reveal our natures as humans?
HPS200H1 - Science and Values
Yiftach Fehige
An introduction to issues at the interface of science and society. Including the reciprocal influence of science and social norms, the relation of science and religion, dissemination of scientific knowledge, science and policy. Issues may include: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons; Genetic Engineering; The Human Genome Project; Climate Change.
HPS201H1 - Science, Technology, and Society: Methods and Approaches
TBD
This course introduces students to the methods and concepts of STS, an interdisciplinary approach to studying science and technology in society. Students will gain familiarity with some of the major theoretical tools used by STS scholars, including but not limited to: actor-network theory (ANT); the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK); technopolitics and the social construction of technology (SCOT); feminist and postcolonial approaches to the study of science, technology and society; and more. STS methods will be paired with a variety of case studies related to past and present controversies, institutions, artifacts, policies, and cultures.
HPS205H1 - Science, Technology, and Empire
Elise Burton
This gateway course introduces the emergence of modern science and technology and the rise of European mercantile and colonial empires as closely intertwined processes. Beginning with the European discovery of the Americas, this course provides a broad thematic overview of the transformation of scientific practices in imperial contexts, including but not limited to geography and cartography; medical botany and plantation agriculture; biogeography and evolutionary biology; ecology and environmentalism; and race science and anthropology. The course primarily focuses on British and French colonial contexts in South Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas, but also considers Iberian, Russian, Dutch, and other imperial formations.
HPS220H1 - Machines
Constance De Font-Reaulx
Machines pervade our lives and their influences are woven through countless contemporary debates in both academic and public discourse. The term ‘machine’ is used frequently in ordinary language, in literature, as well as in philosophical and scientific discussions, yet the concept itself—it’s history, meaning, and impact—rarely gets the analysis it deserves. This course explores the meanings and influence of machines for knowledge, culture, and society in different periods and places, both real and imaginary, through the lens of the history and philosophy of technology. We will draw on scholarship and expertise from a range of fields, including history, philosophy, anthropology, human-machine interaction, computer science, sociology, and literary studies, to explore what machines have been, what they have become, and what they mean for our societies.
HPS246H1 - Data and Society: What's Behind the Numbers? *NEW Course*
TBD
"Big data" and "data-driven" approaches have become central to our modern scientific, cultural, and political landscapes. Yet rarely do we stop to think about what these notions mean or how they relate to ways of living in and knowing the world around us. Students in this course will consider what it means to produce data, who/what gets in/excluded, and how a critical examination of the data-making process can inform a more socially just and equitable future.
HPS250H1 - Introductory Philosophy of Science
Joseph Berkovitz
This course introduces and explores central issues in the philosophy of science, including scientific inference, method, and explanation. Topics may include underdetermination, realism, empiricism, scientific revolutions, feminist epistemology, and laws of nature.
HPS255H1 - History and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
TBD
This course introduces students to the historical and philosophical issues around artificial intelligence (AI). We will cover the geopolitical, economic, and cultural contexts from which the field of AI emerged, as well as the troubled history of the scientific concept of intelligence and how that has influenced the development of AI. The course will also introduce students to foundational and normative questions, such as how we should define and measure AI, how to evaluate the accomplishments of AI systems, and what the benefits and risks of relying on such systems might be.
HPS300H1 - Topics in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
TBD
Topics vary year to year.
HPS302H1 - Topics in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Joseph Berkovitz
This course can concern topics of special interest in the philosophy of science from Antiquity until present. Topics may include scientific change, rationality, method, evidence, progress, reduction, scientific laws, models, representation etc. The course may also focus on specific-time periods, fields of inquiry, individuals, scientific institutions, geographic locations, etc.
HPS319H1 - History of Medicine II
Lucia Dacome
This course examines the development of medicine from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. It focuses on the historical development of western medicine in relation to societies, politics and culture and considers topics such as changing views of the body, the development of medical institutions such as hospitals, asylums and laboratories, the diversifies world of healing and the place of visual and material culture in the production and dissemination of medical knowledge.
HPS324H1 - Natural Science and Social Issues
Yiftach Fehige
Historical examination of the interactions of science (both as body of knowledge and as enterprise) with ideological, political and social issues. The impact of science; attacks on and critiques of scientific expertise as background to contemporary conflicts. Subjects may vary according to students' interests. (offered irregularly).
HPS372H1 - The Epistemology of Medical Misinformation
TBD
The epistemology of misinformation is a branch of epistemology with the objective of providing insight into the nature and spread of misinformation, fake news, conspiratorial theories, echo chambers, and epistemic pathologies in the formation of public opinion. This course focuses on medical misinformation, what harms it can cause, how it spreads, and strategies that have been advanced to minimize the harm of medical misinformation. Through a series of case studies, it also provides a critical perspective on the difference between misinformation and disinformation with an overview of how threat actors weaponize information during public health emergencies to cause harm. Topics covered may include concepts of scientific objectivity and universality; the communication of risk and risk perception; and the changing role of expertise in a fragmented public sphere; and the key role played by mainstream and social media in spreading both information and disinformation, propaganda, conspiracy theories, and fake news.
HPS391H1 - Rebels Who Count: The History of Mathematics from 1700 to the Present
Ellen Abrams
A survey of the development of mathematics from 1700 to the present with emphasis on historical issues.
HPS422H1 - History of Data
Ellen Abrams
This seminar examines the meaning and value of data in a variety of historical contexts. Important moments in the history of science will be considered through scholars' attempts to catalog and quantify human lives, social dynamics, and natural phenomena. Course material will focus on the relationship between the production of data and different forms of knowledge, power, and governance.