D iscu ssion 303 teaching th e h isto ry of science, a n d sub seq u en tly to convoke a .special In tern ation al Symposium • to th is end. The problem s of teaching th e h istory of .science should also be su b ject for discussion a t th e fo rth coming X lth In ternational Congress of the H istory of Science.
A. T eske /
Professor Ranchi m entioned in ihis le ctu re am ong difficulties w ith w hich th e teaching of th e b isto ry of science is confronted, also th e following one: th e stu d en ts p re fe r to focus th e ir atten tio n an d th e ir activity on th e p resen t state of th e discipline th e y have chosen, a n d on its fu rth e r 'progress ra th e r th a n a n its history; o nly v ery few a re interested’ in this la tte r respect. This is — a n d therew ith n o polem ical rem a rk is intended, only a sim ple statem en t — a r a th e r sound situ a tion, as a ll w e couild w ish is only th a t th e pro p o rtion of stud en ts m ay change a little in favour of the historical group.
B ut even if i t 'does not Change, I think, th is difficulty can b e o v er come. For it should b e possible to teach th e h isto ry of a given discipline in such a way, as to m ake it o f essential a n d im m ediate use fo r th e study of this discipline itself, as to enable us — to .say it by th e w ay of a n exam ple — to educate b e tte r chem ists a n d b e tte r physicists. In a som ew hat ru d im en tary fo rm th e historical points of view a re in common use in th e ordinary w ay of teaching.
Indeed, w hen lectu rin g fo r instance on th e th eo ry of rela tiv ity , nobody willl om it to introduce th e stu d en ts in to th e form er conceptions of space an d tim e. A nd if w e enlarge th is p ictu re b y giving th e s tu d e n ts not only the view s of Newton, b u t also those o f MaCh a n d of Lorentz, and by introducing a b ro ad er philosophical background, w e w ill n o t loose th e 'connection w ith o u r discipline. A nd it w ill h elp th e students, to u n d erstan d b e tte r th e [present issue.
True, w e can n ot expect to have an o th er 'historical chair attach e d to every existing one. B ut fo rtu n ate ly th ere are larg e fields of scientific research which, in despite of th e ir greatness, form a ce rta in u n ity — physics for instance o r chem istry — an d w hich a re rep resen ted by a w hole ensem ble of chairs. So, th e situation is n o t so 'difficult, a n d a historical chair connected w ith such a n ensem ble could of course serve not only didactic purposes of th e w hole ensem ble b u t p erfo rm also research w o rk in th e h isto ry of science.
A. P. Y o uchkevitch
In ord er th a t a course in th e h istory of one o r another science a t the respective facu lty of th e U niversity m ay m ake a success, i t h a s to fulfil, in any case, tw o conditions'. It ought to be in terestin g to th e
