Engl 201/Hist 100 Opinion Paper on Science & Technology as Western

After reading The Sign of Four in Engl 201, you wrote a brief paper on whether you thought Holmes' method was scientific. We also talked about how his antagonists are often defined by their identity as (or associations with) the archaic, non-Western, or savage peoples. In History 100 you began by considering the defining features of science and history. You went on to study Greece and Rome, medieval Spain, and the discovery of the new world before reading several writers associated with the development of science in the west. In both courses, you read selections from Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt, an alternative history in which China discovers the new world, Galileo and Newton-like figures live in Central Asia, and the Industrial Revolution takes place in southern India. And in Hound of the Baskervilles, you saw Sherlock Holmes test the adequacy of rationality and science in the face of apparently supernatural phenomenon and archaic superstition.

For Thursday, March 8th at 5pm write a 3-4 page paper (800 words) in which you take a position on whether science and technology are or have been distinctively western phenomenon. Draw on at least two primary source readings from your Hist 100 units on the experimental, practical, philosophical and collecting traditions to define what you mean by science and technology. Then address the possibility, raised by Kim Stanley Robinson in Years of Rice and Salt, that science and technology could have developed outside the west. Here you may also want to review the Library of Congress Webcast by George Salibra on Islamic science (especially 55 min on transmission and 1:11 on decline) and the DVD Islam: Empire of Faith (chapters 9 & 10) that we will watch in class. You may also want to consider the way Doyle positioned Sherlock Holmes' methods vis-à-vis the Orient and ancient superstition and think about the advantages and problems associated with the genre of alternative history. At the end of your paper you have the option of discussing whether you think science and technology are no longer Western phenomena tied to one region of the world.

We will be looking for a clear, well focused argument in which you take a position on science and technology as a distinctively western phenomenon and support your views with detailed examples from the readings. Unless you have been trained in APA or Chicago citation format, use MLA for documenting your sources. Include both in-text citations and a works cited page. We recommend that you use The Center for History and New Media's new browser-based bibliographic software, Zotero, to organize your online sources.

Our Mason Topics teaching assistant, Jeff Sears, will be available to help you with this software as well as with your writing. His office hours are as follows:

Mon 12:30-1:30pm and 5:30-7:30pm at the Writing Center. Tutoring by appointment only at http://writingcenter.gmu.edu or 993-1200
Wed 1-4pm till March 17^th and 4:30-7pm after that. Tutoring by appointment only using jsears2ATgmu.edu. Jeff will not be present in Eisenhower unless you contact him in advance
Sun 12-4pm walk-in hours in Eisenhower. No appointment necessary but you should bring a print copy of their draft and the assignment (applies to all visits).

Print two copies of your paper. Since your history class is cancelled the day the paper is due, you can bring your History 100 paper to Dr. Scheinfeldt's office in Research 1 and either bring Dr. Thompson's copy to class or put it in his box to the left of his office door (Enterprise 345) by 5pm.