THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES

In the past the gap between humanistic and scientific culture was much more evident than it is nowadays. After centuries of prejudice about scientific learning and discoveries, when science was underestimated as a kind of pseudo-culture; after generations of scientists considered extravagant people, or worst, outsiders, as regards such rules imposed by religious and moral beliefs and code, the primary function performed by scientific education has now become unquestionable. In this paper we shall try to deal with the issue of scientific education from a historical-foundational perspective. We shall try to show the importance of introducing the history of science as an integrated part of the culture of scientific education to the extent of considering history of science either an indissoluble pedagogical element of culture or the basis of inter-discipline. This project-research is not finished, so we only present the outline of the problem, some hypothesis and applications. Beyond, it is based upon use of historical categories to investigate the foundations. For this reason the latter is not analysed by means of a traditional approach. Of course, the content of this study could appear potentially factious, since it cannot be the unique possible perspective.