HUNTER COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Science 101 - Foundations of Science

Fall 2000

ESSAY TOPIC 1

The Roots of Science

DATE DUE: Monday, 11 September (To be submitted at lecture)

Only papers submitted on this date will be eligible for revision.

LENGTH: Approximately 750 words/2 pages. The paper must be typed. Use at least 1 inch margins and double space. Hand-written papers will not be accepted.

REVISION: If the paper is submitted when due (see above), it will be returned to you on Monday, 18 September, (at lecture), with comments and a tentative grade. If you choose, you will then have until Monday, 25 September to prepare a revised version to be submitted for regrading. For regrading, please submit both the original version with your revision. The higher of the two grades will be used for the determination of your final grade. First drafts submitted after 11 September will be graded without opportunity for revision. Papers submitted after 25 September will be subject to a penalty.

CONTEXT: "Science" may be defined as the attempts to account for human experiences with the "outside world." The first of these experiences which gave rise to the earliest science concerned such natural phenomena as were encountered in living in a primitive world. Also included as subject matter for "science" and as grounds for analogical reasoning are the craft and technological processes or recipes that were developed by emerging civilizations.

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TOPIC: Write an essay in which you distinguish among (i.e., define) periodic, episodic and craft-based phenomena which might be the subject matter of early "science." Remember that an essay has a beginning (introduction), a middle (development), and an end (conclusion). Include examples of at least five such phenomena, including three which are periodic (cyclic). You need not limit your examples to those mentioned in class; if your examples cannot be assumed to be familiar to a general reader, they should be briefly described. Describe two of the cycles in enough detail to let someone unfamiliar with them know what they are. Be sure to include in your descriptions some characteristics that distinguish your choices from the other phenomena you named. (Be sure that your examples are appropriate for early science.)