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Subject Summary

This course aims to give insight into the development of science and medicine within Western society, and into their philosophical structure and presuppositions. Students from a variety of backgrounds are encouraged to consider the course; those from the humanities and social sciences find that the insights they bring from their previous training compensate for any lack of knowledge of science. Students who have not read the subject in Part IB are welcome to attend the Part IB lectures in addition to those given specifically for Part II.

The Part II course is arranged in three sections as follows:

Papers : There are six groups of courses corresponding to six unseen examination papers from which Option A students choose any three from the following list and Option B students choose any four from the following list:

Paper 1: Early Science and Medicine

Paper 2: Sciences and Empires (1780–present)

Paper 3: Modern Medicine and Life Sciences (1780–present)

Paper 4: Philosophy and Scientific Practice

Paper 5: Epistemology and Metaphysics of Science

Paper 6: Ethics and Politics of Science, Technology and Medicine

Primary sources: students are required to submit one essay, of not more than 5,000 words in length, prepared on the basis of attending two series of HPS Primary Sources Seminars, of which there are seven series to choose from. A list of texts to be covered in the seminars will be published in the academical year preceding that of the course and the examination. The essays are to be submitted at the start of Lent term.

Dissertation: Option A students are required to submit a dissertation of up to 8,000 words. This is expected to embody a substantial piece of study on a topic of the student's own choosing, subject to approval by the HPS Board, that falls anywhere within the History and Philosophy of Science; it must be submitted early in the third term. Potential topics should be discussed with any of the teaching officers, preferably before the preceding Long Vacation but otherwise as early as possible in the academical year.

Programme Specification

This course is taught by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

This course aims to:

provide a challenging course in the history, philosophy and sociology of science and medicine;
develop, in students from a range of backgrounds, including the natural sciences, medicine, history and classics, a broad understanding of central themes in the development of science and medicine;
recognize the wide range of backgrounds of students taking Part II HPS by providing an appropriate range of courses, none of which require prior knowledge of the field;
encourage the development of critical and synthetic skills in relation to the claims, arguments and development of the sciences, technology and medicine, and of the disciplines that make up HPS;
maintain a close relationship between teaching and research so that students gain familiarity with the principal current issues in a large and fluid field;
help students acquire the skills of research, analysis and communication necessary to producing supervision essays and coursework using traditional and electronic library and other resources, and to foster skill in oral communication through participation in seminars;
encourage students through supervised work on a research project leading to the writing of a dissertation, to analyse in greater depth a topic in HPS that they find interesting and important;
introduce students to historical, philosophical and sociological methods;
encourage critical analysis of texts, objects and visual images.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should:

have increased confidence in their ability to think for themselves;
possess a thorough knowledge of selected areas in history, philosophy and sociology of science and medicine;
be capable of researching unfamiliar subject areas quickly and efficiently;
possess substantially improved skills in written and verbal communication;
be capable of pursuing an in-depth project.

These include lectures, supervisions, research work, group discussions, class presentations, and extensive reading.

Assessment for this course is through coursework (up to 40%) and unseen examinations, See Programme Structure for details of Option A and Option B.

Programme structure

There are two alternative options for students taking the Part II in History and Philosophy of Science. Option A is normally the choice of students who intend to graduate after taking Part II; option B is aimed at those who plan to proceed to Part III but all Part ll students are free to choose either option.

Option A consists of:

three unseen written examinations chosen from a list of papers (for aims 2, 4, 5 and 9 and learning outcomes 1, 2 and 4);
a dissertation of up to 8,000 words (for aims 7-9 and learning outcomes 3-5);
one primary source essay of up to 5,000 words in length (for aims 5, 6, 8 and 9 and learning outcomes 3-4).

Option B consists of:

four unseen written examinations chosen from a list of papers (for aims 2, 4, 5 and 9 and learning outcomes 1, 2 and 4);

Courses of Preparation

Essential: None.

Recommended: The course presupposes no knowledge of the more elementary material covered by NST Part IB History and Philosophy of Science, but students who have not taken this course are advised, before the start of the Part II course, to read as many as possible of the texts listed in the leaflet 'History and Philosophy of Science Part IB'. All intending Part II students are urged to tackle the preliminary reading for the papers they plan to take during the Long Vacation and to discuss possible paper and dissertation topics with their HPS Director of Studies as soon as possible.

Additional Information

Further information is available on the Course Websites pages.

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ezyang’s blog

Cambridge retrospective: history and philosophy of science, by edward z. yang.

I recently concluded a year long study-abroad program at the University of Cambridge. You can read my original reasons and first impressions here .

It is the Sunday before the beginning of exams, and the weather is spectacular. Most students (except perhaps the pure historians) are dourly inside, too busy revising to take advantage of it. But I am thrust out of my den, constructed of piles of notes and past exam questions, in order to go to one final revision with our history supervisor, Mirjam. I cycle down Grange road, park my bicycle outside Ridley Hall, and am greeted to a pleasant surprise: Mirjam has elected to hold the revision outside on a cluster of park benches flanked everywhere by grass and trees, and has brought a wickerbasket containing fresh fruit, small cupcakes and other treats, and also sparkling wine and beer (perhaps not the best drink for what is ostensibly a revision, but we avail ourselves of it anyway.)

History and Philosophy of Science is a course made of two strands. They start off relatively distinct from each other: History of Science began with Galileo and the dawn of the 16th century, while Philosophy of Science began by analyzing the nature of causality. But by the end of the course, philosophical questions about quantification and quantum mechanics are couched heavily in terms of the histories of these sciences, and prevailing attitudes about the origins of western civilization being rooted in Greece and the mathematics of ancient Babylonia are analyzed with increasing philosophical flavor. The mixture of the two subjects work, and taking this course has been an incredibly rich experience. (At times, I even wish we had been asked to write more than one essay a week—something that would be pretty unheard of for an MIT humanities class.)

It was also hard work. Especially in history, where my initial essays had a rocky start due to my misunderstanding of how I was supposed to be synthesizing material from a broader range of materials than just the survey texts that were required reading (I might have been a “little” negligent doing all of the required reading.) Writing HPS essays required me to block out large chunks of my time during the weekend for them; I rarely stayed up late doing assigned computer science work, but did so more than I would like the night an HPS essay was due. I always attempted to pay attention in lectures (some times more successfully than others—to this day I still don’t really understand the rise of the modern research university system.)

A few professors stand out in my memories. I will never forget Hasok Chang (pictured above)’s introductory lecture, where, in a digression, he explained he originally majored in Physics in Caltech, but switched to philosophy after his professors got annoyed when he asked questions like “What happened before the Big Bang?” It was his first year teaching the Philosophy of the Physical Sciences series of lectures (much to the chagrin of many students, who did not have any past exam questions to study against), but he went on to deliver an extremely solid series of engaging and informative lectures (I think they also appealed a bit to physicists who were tired of such abstract questions as the nature of causation and induction). He even invited us to a round of drinks at the nearby pub after his last lecture, where we had a lively debate about a recent topic over some beers.

Stephen John delivered an extremely lively and thought-provoking series of lectures on ethics in science. Most of his lectures left us with more questions than answers, but they were an elucidating journey into the realms of informed consent, the precautionary principle and cost-benefit analysis. (Informed consent is one of my new personal favorites: it’s an awesome example of how an enshrined medical practice is both too conservative and too liberal.) And I will always remember our supervisor, Richard Jennings (pictured below), as the perpetually smiling, moustached man whose supervisions weren’t really supervisions but rather just conversations about the topics which had been recently covered in lecture.

Among history lecturers, I have to tip my hat to Eleanor Robson, who delivered the last four lectures in history of science. I will admit: I wasn’t too keen on learning about Ancient Babylonia when I first read the syllabus, but what the lectures ended up being were a discussion about historiographical issues: how do historians come to know the “dry facts” that anyone who studied history in High School comes to know too well? In many ways, it’s astounding that we know as much as we do. It’s one of those lessons that you wish you learned earlier, even though, in the back of your head, you know that you wouldn’t have fully appreciated them earlier on.

Simon Schaffer (picture above) was also quite a character, a rather forceful individual who delivered our first set of history lectures. You can perhaps get a flavor of his style from the short BBC series The Light Fantastic , though he was perhaps a smidge more vulgar (in a good way!) when you saw him lecture in person. (“Fat. Irascible. Brilliant. Definitely a role model,” Schaffer, on Tycho Brahe.) And of course, Mirjam, our history supervisor, who persistently encouraged us to improve our essay writing.

HPS was pretty amazing. (I even tagged along to the Part II orientation event, even though I wouldn’t be eligible for it.) If you are a scientist who at all had an interest in philosophy or history (I first dipped my toe into philosophy taking “Logic and Reasoning” at CTY), I cannot recommend this program more highly. Readers of my blog may have noticed various attempts to discuss these issues on my blog—they are a bit harder to write about than some of the more technical things I discuss, but I think they are also very rewarding (and occasionally, some of my most popular writings—though in retrospect this one seems a bit Whiggish now.) It’s also fun: I managed to write an essay about Kuhnian scientific revolutions by framing it in the context of MIT Mystery Hunt. I won’t deny it: for a brief period of time, I felt like a liberal arts student. It has made me a better person, in many, many ways.

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Advice on writing a sociology essay

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Key to writing a good Sociology essay is a clear argument based on a careful and critical reading of the material relevant to the question. In the first instance, this will be the books and articles the paper organiser has indicated you should read in the paper guide. Pay careful attention to the language a particular author uses and attempt to situate the work in the social and intellectual context of the period in which it was written.

A good essay will provide an introduction that explains your interpretation of the question and how you intend to answer it, namely your essay’s structure and argument. As part of the process of building the argument, the body of the essay will outline, and critically evaluate, the different positions you’ve considered on the topic of the question (e.g. a question on class may discuss Marx, Weber and Durkheim’s differing understanding of the structural organisation of class and/or the subjective experience of class). This critical evaluation may include how well arguments are supported with empirical examples of events (including contemporary events not yet analysed in the literature), studies or statistical data. Specifically, you can use the theory to help us understand an empirical case of your choice, and then use that empirical case to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of that theory.

Here you can show further knowledge by referring to material beyond the reading list, as long as you demonstrate its relevance. The essay should conclude by summarising your argument and the justifications you have offered for it, as well as indicating the relevance of your argument in the broader theoretical and/or empirical context. Always try to justify your arguments by reference to concrete examples, studies, research or new work. Reference all your sources consistently and systematically. Finally give yourself time to re-read, edit and re-edit your essay. Often the process of re-reading and editing will improve an essay immensely. This process will, of course, be aided through discussions in supervisions and the further reflections they inspire for you.

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On this page you can find a collection of links to useful resources and repositories that can assist you in your studies.

The HSPS Tripos has a supervison recommendation policy which you can read here . Each department within the HSPS Tripos has compiled information to advise students on essay writing, supervisions and exams. Visit the respective websites for further information:

iDiscover (Online Library)

You can use iDiscover to find academic articles and readings. Use the Libguide to learn more about on how to use iDiscover (including advanced searching techniques), using your library account and requesting and renewing books from libraries across the university.

At Cambridge, students benefit from access to one of the world’s largest university collections , dispersed across a range of libraries , from Colleges to the subject-specific holdings for HSPS (at the Seeley and Haddon Libraries) as well as the main University Library . Students might also find useful materials in the Marshall Library of the Faculty of Economics (Sidgwick Site), the Geography Library (Downing Site) and the History Faculty Library (Sidgwick Site). You will need to register at these latter libraries by presenting the library staff with your University Card and filling in an application form.

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History and Philosophy of Science Collections in Cambridge

There are many specialist print and online resources for History and Philosophy of Science (often known locally as 'HPS') in Cambridge. This guide aims to give you an overview of the resources and research support available for this broad subject.

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Decisions, Decisions

Cambridge (MPhil HPS) vs. LSE (MSc Phil of Science) vs. St. Andrews (MLitt Phil)

philosophy ma
philosophy of science

By johannesorange March 11, 2020 in Decisions, Decisions

johannesorange

I've been accepted to the above three programs, that is, to the MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge , the MSc in Philosophy of Science at LSE , and the MLitt in Philosophy at St. Andrews . They are all one year programs.

I graduated from an Ivy League school in 2016 with an AB in Philosophy with about a 3.8 average (3.7 in philosophy), but haven't had luck with philosophy PhDs. My plan is indeed to apply again for a PhD in Philosophy and/or History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) beginning in 2021, ideally with a superior writing sample. I anticipated that I would have an easier time with masters programs than PhDs given the length of time I've been out of school. I'm curious to know whether some folks with familiarity with philosophy PhD admissions have an idea of what might be best for me this year.

Some thoughts:

1) I am most excited about Cambridge HPS just from an objective perspective. It is an exciting program and is relatively prestigious by my lights. There are some caveats, however. Notably, there is no coursework. Basically you write three research essays and then a lengthier fourth "dissertation". The papers make up the entirety of the grade. This, I would imagine, will allow me to put together a solid sample during my first semester, plus solicit a good recommendation from my supervisor. That being said, it's possible I may need coursework to prove my "bona fides". I have a very solid background in philosophy personally, but I don't necessarily think it's reflected in my eclectic undergraduate transcript.

2) If coursework seems important, some part of me thinks that St. Andrews or LSE might be a better fit. Both are taught. Perhaps both are viewed more favorably for philosophy PhDs given that they are straight philosophy masters rather than HPS.

Imagine that I'm fully funded at all these programs for the purposes of discussion, and let me know what you think.

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Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science

Here, for the first time in English, are the philosophical essays-including the first statement of the" Duhem Thesis"-that formed the basis for Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, together with new translations of the historiographical essays presenting the equally celebrated" Continuity Thesis" by Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), a founding figure of the history and philosophy of science. Prefaced by an introduction on Duhem's intellectual development and continuing significance, here as well are important subsequent essays in which ...

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Metascience

David J Stump , Paul Needham , Robert Deltete

Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science

michael liston

Duhem used historical arguments to draw philosophical conclusions about the aim and structure of physical theory. He argued against explanatory theories and in favor of theories that provide natural classifications of the phenomena. This paper presents those arguments and, with the benefit of hindsight, uses them as a test case for the prevalent contemporary use of historical arguments to draw philosophical conclusion about science. It argues that Duhem provides us with an illuminating example of philosophy of science developing as a contingent, though natural, response to problems arising in a particular scientific context and under a particular understanding of the history of science in that context. It concludes that the history of science provides little support for interesting theses about the present or future state of science.

Transversal : International journal for the historiography of science

Jean-Francois Stoffel

Damián Islas Mondragón

Fábio Leite

Horia-Roman Patapievici

ABSTRACT: Pierre Duhem is the discoverer of the physics of the Middle Ages. The discovery that there existed a physics of the Middle Ages was a surprise primarily for Duhem himself. This discovery completely changed the way he saw the evolution of physics, bringing him to formulate a complex argument for the growth and continuity of scientific knowledge, which I call the ‘Pierre Duhem Thesis’ (not to be confused either with what Roger Ariew called the ‘true Duhem thesis’ as opposed to the Quine-Duhem thesis, which he persuasively argued is not Duhem’s, or with the famous ‘Quine-Duhem Thesis’ itself). The ‘Pierre Duhem Thesis’ consists of five sub-theses (some transcendental in nature, some other causal, factual, or descriptive), which are not independent, as they do not work separately (but only as a system) and do not relate to reality separately (but only simultaneously). The famous and disputed ‘continuity thesis’ is part, as a sub-thesis, from this larger argument. I argue that the ‘Pierre Duhem Thesis’ wraps up all of Duhem’s discoveries in the history of science and as a whole represents his main contribution to the historiography of science. The ‘Pierre Duhem Thesis’ is the central argument of Pierre Duhem's work as historian of science.

Logos & Episteme

H-R Patapievici

： A lot of controversies were raised between science and religion in the 19 th century as a consequence of the laws of thermodynamics and their corollaries. Pierre Duhem, as a Catholic physicist, took his own unique stance on this issue. This paper attempts to analyze his understanding of the relationship between the laws of thermodynamics and metaphysical propositions as well as religious dogmas, which would then lead us to his philosophy of physics, helping us to explore the interconnectedness between his religious faith and his conception of theoretical physics. Finally, we will come to the conclusion that: From a logical point of view, Duhem defines physics as an independent system of mathematical propositions which is irrelevant to any religious dogmas or metaphysical propositions; However, on the level of ontology and epistemology, Duhem considers his faith in God as an overarching structure which dominates the progression of physics to its ideal form, namely the natural classification.

José Raymundo Novaes Chiappin

The aim of this paper is to present Duhem's critical view of the dynamical development of mechanics according to two principles of his theory of the development of physics: the continuous and the rational development of physics. These two principles impose a formal conception of physics that aims at demarcating physics from the metaphysical view on the one hand and the pragmatist/conventionalist view on the other hand. Duhem pursues an intermediary conception of physics, a representational system of empirical laws based upon formal principles. This formal conception of physics will adjust to his idea of scientific progress in the form of a sequence of representational systems as structures of increasing comprehensiveness of empirical laws, which leads him to defend a convergent structural realism pointing to an ideal physical theory.

Jeremy Butterfield

This is the editors' introduction to a new anthology of commissioned articles covering the various branches of philosophy of physics. We introduce the articles in terms of the three pillars of modern physics: relativity theory, quantum theory and thermal physics. We end by discussing the present state, and future prospects, of fundamental physics.

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Students taking Option A write a dissertation on a topic approved by the HPS Board and prepared under the supervision of a teaching officer or postdoctoral researcher.

The dissertation gives you the chance to explore a topic of interest in depth; it gives you practice in essential writing skills; and it should sharpen your capacity for analysis and posing questions. Part II students in the past have found the dissertation to be the most rewarding aspect of the course. The dissertation counts for 20% of the overall mark – the same as one exam paper.

The word limit for the dissertation is 8,000. This includes footnotes but excludes the bibliography and prefatory matter.

The dissertation is expected to embody a substantial piece of study on a given topic. Quality is not correlated with length, but it is difficult to write a first-class dissertation in 5,000 words.

Figures may be included in the work and should contribute to the argument. They should be captioned only so as to specify the source; such captions are excluded from the word count. Formulae may be used where appropriate and are also excluded from the word count.

The word limit is strictly enforced. Each piece of work will be inspected to ensure that the word limit has been respected. If work is over the limit, a mark will be placed at the point where the word limit has been reached. Examiners reserve the right to stop reading when they get to that point.

The Department uses Microsoft Word to check word counts. If you use coding software, such as LaTeX, you should be aware that this software may give a different word count. You may find it helpful to use TeXcount , an online tool that analyses LaTeX code to provide an accurate count of words, formulae, captions and footnotes. If using software other than Microsoft Word you should submit a screenshot to demonstrate the word count from the software used.

Choosing a topic and securing a supervisor

The dissertation must be on a topic that falls within the subject area of history and philosophy of science. Remember, if you have taken the HPS Part IB course, there are many areas covered in Part II that you will not have encountered yet. Remember too that the Department's expertise in some fields is stronger than in others. This is important when it comes to finding an appropriate supervisor.

You should plan to secure a dissertation topic and supervisor as early as possible in Michaelmas Term, and no later than the division of term.

Dissertations are tightly focused pieces of original research. To identify a topic, the first thing to do is to establish the general question and/or area of research that interests you. This will usually correspond to the subject of one of the Part II papers, even if it is not taught directly on that paper. Your Director of Studies can advise about this. Once you have established the general subject area of the dissertation, you should contact the relevant paper manager. He or she will advise you about honing the topic and will put you in contact with an appropriate supervisor.

To get a sense of the sorts of expertise that might be available, and to begin to identify possible supervisors, see the Department's list of dissertation and essay supervisors.

Dissertation and essay supervisors

If you would like to work with an external supervisor – someone who is not a member of the Department – you must obtain permission from the Part II Manager.

Successful dissertation subjects emerge from discussions between students and supervisors, but it is important that you choose a topic you are enthusiastic about. Think about the kind of general questions in HPS that you find significant, and would like to answer. Explore the HPS reading lists. Think about the kind of work you might enjoy doing. Some dissertation topics give the chance for extensive reading and library research; others involve work with instruments in the Whipple Museum ; others require a close study of a single text, a critical review of a major debate, or the analysis of an important philosophical problem. The choice is yours.

Please note that a dissertation topic in the same area as a student's primary source essay will not normally be approved.

Planning your work

Once you have secured a topic and a supervisor, your first task will be to start reading. You should aim to have a working bibliography in place by the end of Michaelmas Term. During Lent Term you should establish the focus of the dissertation, and agree a schedule of deadlines for submitting drafts (or draft sections) to your supervisor. Four hours of supervision is the norm for an HPS dissertation. The dissertation is due at the beginning of Easter Term, but you cannot expect your supervisor to be available during the Easter vacation.

Once you have a topic, start the research and writing as soon as possible. It is a mistake to carry out months of research first, with the idea that it will all somehow come together at the very end. Do not leave the writing to take care of itself over the Easter vacation. Do not assume that your first draft will be your final draft: allow plenty of time between the two. You may find it hard to keep up with the weekly routine of supervision essays during term, so the winter vacation is vitally important for writing the dissertation. Have a substantial body of the text in draft when you come up in January so your supervisor has something to read.

Human participants

If you are planning to collect data from human participants, or use data collected from human participants, you will need to plan well in advance to ensure that you have obtained ethical approval before starting work on your project and have given consideration to how you are going to handle the information you collect.

Working with human participants: ethical approval and data protection

Dissertations must include adequate documentation in the form of notes and a bibliography; make sure to check your citations for accuracy, and give precise page numbers and sources for all quotations and illustrations. Various referencing formats are acceptable, but it is essential to be consistent . The Whipple Library has copies of several Part II, Part III and MPhil dissertations that will give examples of reference styles, or you can use an article in a relevant journal as a model. For helpful comments on style and organisation, see the research guide and advice .

Referencing

You should upload your dissertation to the 'HPS Part II Coursework' site on Moodle before 12noon on the day of the deadline. Paper copies are not required.

Please note:

You cannot upload more than one file.
The following file formats are accepted: DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF.

The dissertation will be marked anonymously, so it is important that your name does not appear anywhere on it.

Please note that the Department will retain a copy of your dissertation and may make it available to future students unless you make a written request to the contrary to the Departmental Administrator.

Changing the title

In exceptional circumstances, students sometimes need to change the title of their dissertation after they have they submitted the title form. The deadline for changing the dissertation title is in mid-February.

The University and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science take plagiarism very seriously. Please read our advice about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Plagiarism guidelines

The Department uses the text-matching software Turnitin UK to blanket screen all student work submitted in Moodle.

Use of Turnitin UK

Request to add an appendix

A dissertation should be self-contained, including or citing all information needed for an examiner to follow its argument.

The word limit normally includes text and footnotes but not the bibliography. However, in certain cases permission may be obtained for materials strictly relevant to the argument of the dissertation to be appended for the information of the examiners, with such materials not contributing to the word count. Materials falling into this category may include primary source materials that are not readily accessible, translations, questionnaire responses, statistical tables, descriptions of objects and analytical bibliographies and formal proofs.

Normally material included in the word count should mainly consist of the student's own discussion and analysis. Exceptionally, when a critical edition or translation, an analytical bibliography, or a technical description of objects and their provenances is based on substantial original scholarship and is central to the argument of a dissertation, permission may be obtained for its inclusion within the body of the dissertation, hence contributing to the word count. Normally no more than one third of a dissertation should consist of such material.

Applications for such permissions should normally be sought, in consultation with the supervisor, from the HPS Board prior to submission of the dissertation.

Appendix request form

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Human, Social, and Political Sciences, BA (Hons)

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Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) at Cambridge

Human, Social, and Political Sciences at Cambridge includes politics and international relations, social anthropology and sociology.

You can specialise in one or two subjects, but you can also explore a variety of other subjects too.

Human, Social, and Political Sciences at Cambridge

You can tailor this course from the very start and study specific subjects that interest you.

You’ll study three core disciplines, taught by globally respected departments:

Politics and International Relations, where you explore politics within and between countries, covering issues from human rights and democracy to financial crises and international conflict
Social anthropology, where you investigate ‘what it is to be human’ by studying social and cultural diversity – how people live, think and relate to each other around the world
Sociology, where you analyse multiple forms of power and inequality, and how they impact on the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of people’s lives

You may also be able to choose other Human, Social, and Political Sciences subjects, or subjects from other courses.

Teaching and facilities

You’ll be taught by experts with a worldwide reputation for teaching and research.

Facilities

The Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science facilities include:

two faculty libraries
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
computing facilities
multimedia-equipped teaching rooms
rare collection of ethnographic films

You'll also have access to the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries.

Watch the video to find out what a day in the life of a Cambridge HSPS student is like:

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students – you can find details of these costs here .

There are no compulsory additional course costs for Human, Social, and Political Sciences. If you have any queries about resources/materials, please contact the Department.

Your future career

You’ll graduate with analytical and critical skills, intellectual versatility, multicultural sensitivity and an international outlook. These skills are widely sought after by employers.

Recent graduates have gone onto careers in:

research, both academic and policy research
Civil Service, including the Foreign Office
journalism
management consultancy
national and international non-governmental organisations and development agencies
publishing
health management
public relations

Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars and small-group supervisions.

You will usually have 8 hours of lectures, and one or two supervisions each week during the first year.

Assessment is mostly through examinations. Some papers are assessed by coursework.

In the third year you can replace one paper with a 10,000 word dissertation.

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.

Year 1 (Part IA)

You take 4 papers.

3 papers must be from the core subjects – politics, international relations, social anthropology, and sociology
1 paper can be another core subject paper, or you can choose an archaeology, biological anthropology or psychology option

Years 2 and 3 (Part II)

You choose one of 3 single-subject tracks or one of 5 two-subject tracks.

The 3 single-subject tracks are:

Politics and International Relations
Social Anthropology

The 5 two-subject tracks are:

Politics and Sociology
Social Anthropology and Politics
Social Anthropology and Religious Studies (Modern Religion)
Sociology and Criminology
Sociology and Social Anthropology

It’s not possible to change tracks unless you switch from a two-subject track to one of the subjects within it.

For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences website.

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

take part in an interview
complete an admissions test
produce some written work
achieve a particular grade in your current studies
do some catch-up work
start your new course from the beginning

For more information visit the course website .

You can also apply to change to:

Management Studies at the Judge Business School

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.

Minimum offer level

A level: A*AA IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level Other qualifications : Check which other qualifications we accept .

Subject requirements

While we don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Colleges normally require A*/7 in an essay-based subject.

We’d also recommend certain subjects for a strong application:

English (language or literature)
Languages (ancient or modern)

You can find more information about the subjects our typical entrants have studied below.

See Entrance requirements and Choosing your post-16 subjects for additional guidance and conditions of entry.

What HSPS students have studied

Most HSPS students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (69% of entrants).

Most had studied at least one of the subjects recommended above.

The rest had usually taken at least one of:

Classical Civilisation, Further Mathematics, Geography, Politics, Law, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) or Sociology.
Government & Politics
Mathematics

The majority of students who studied IB achieved at least 43 points overall.

This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured.

When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.

Admission assessment

There is an admission assessment at some Colleges for this course. You do not need to register in advance.

Check the College admission assessments page for more information.

Submitting written work

Applicants to all Colleges are required to submit 2 pieces of written work prior to interview.

Offers above the minimum requirement

The minimum offer level and subject requirements outline the minimum you'll usually need to achieve to get an offer from Cambridge.

In some cases, you'll get a higher or more challenging offer. Colleges set higher offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.

Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page .

All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.

Discover your department or faculty

Visit the faculty of Human, Social, and Political Sciences website - The Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences website has more information about this course, facilities, people and research.

Explore our Colleges

Find out how Colleges work - A College is where you’ll live, eat and socialise. It’s also where you’ll have teaching in a small group, known as supervisions.
How to choose a Cambridge College that's right for you - If you think you know which course you’d like to study, it’s time to choose a College.

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MIT study explains why laws are written in an incomprehensible style

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Legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, even for lawyers. This raises the question: Why are these documents written in a style that makes them so impenetrable?

MIT cognitive scientists believe they have uncovered the answer to that question. Just as “magic spells” use special rhymes and archaic terms to signal their power, the convoluted language of legalese acts to convey a sense of authority, they conclude.

In a study appearing this week in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the researchers found that even non-lawyers use this type of language when asked to write laws.

“People seem to understand that there’s an implicit rule that this is how laws should sound, and they write them that way,” says Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the study.

Eric Martinez PhD ’24 is the lead author of the study. Francis Mollica, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, is also an author of the paper .

Casting a legal spell

Gibson’s research group has been studying the unique characteristics of legalese since 2020, when Martinez came to MIT after earning a law degree from Harvard Law School. In a 2022 study , Gibson, Martinez, and Mollica analyzed legal contracts totaling about 3.5 million words, comparing them with other types of writing, including movie scripts, newspaper articles, and academic papers.

That analysis revealed that legal documents frequently have long definitions inserted in the middle of sentences — a feature known as “center-embedding.” Linguists have previously found that this kind of structure can make text much more difficult to understand.

“Legalese somehow has developed this tendency to put structures inside other structures, in a way which is not typical of human languages,” Gibson says.

In a follow-up study published in 2023, the researchers found that legalese also makes documents more difficult for lawyers to understand. Lawyers tended to prefer plain English versions of documents, and they rated those versions to be just as enforceable as traditional legal documents.

“Lawyers also find legalese to be unwieldy and complicated,” Gibson says. “Lawyers don’t like it, laypeople don’t like it, so the point of this current paper was to try and figure out why they write documents this way.”

The researchers had a couple of hypotheses for why legalese is so prevalent. One was the “copy and edit hypothesis,” which suggests that legal documents begin with a simple premise, and then additional information and definitions are inserted into already existing sentences, creating complex center-embedded clauses.

“We thought it was plausible that what happens is you start with an initial draft that’s simple, and then later you think of all these other conditions that you want to include. And the idea is that once you’ve started, it’s much easier to center-embed that into the existing provision,” says Martinez, who is now a fellow and instructor at the University of Chicago Law School.

However, the findings ended up pointing toward a different hypothesis, the so-called “magic spell hypothesis.” Just as magic spells are written with a distinctive style that sets them apart from everyday language, the convoluted style of legal language appears to signal a special kind of authority, the researchers say.

“In English culture, if you want to write something that’s a magic spell, people know that the way to do that is you put a lot of old-fashioned rhymes in there. We think maybe center-embedding is signaling legalese in the same way,” Gibson says.

In this study, the researchers asked about 200 non-lawyers (native speakers of English living in the United States, who were recruited through a crowdsourcing site called Prolific), to write two types of texts. In the first task, people were told to write laws prohibiting crimes such as drunk driving, burglary, arson, and drug trafficking. In the second task, they were asked to write stories about those crimes.

To test the copy and edit hypothesis, half of the participants were asked to add additional information after they wrote their initial law or story. The researchers found that all of the subjects wrote laws with center-embedded clauses, regardless of whether they wrote the law all at once or were told to write a draft and then add to it later. And, when they wrote stories related to those laws, they wrote in much plainer English, regardless of whether they had to add information later.

“When writing laws, they did a lot of center-embedding regardless of whether or not they had to edit it or write it from scratch. And in that narrative text, they did not use center-embedding in either case,” Martinez says.

In another set of experiments, about 80 participants were asked to write laws, as well as descriptions that would explain those laws to visitors from another country. In these experiments, participants again used center-embedding for their laws, but not for the descriptions of those laws.

The origins of legalese

Gibson’s lab is now investigating the origins of center-embedding in legal documents. Early American laws were based on British law, so the researchers plan to analyze British laws to see if they feature the same kind of grammatical construction. And going back much farther, they plan to analyze whether center-embedding is found in the Hammurabi Code, the earliest known set of laws, which dates to around 1750 BC.

“There may be just a stylistic way of writing from back then, and if it was seen as successful, people would use that style in other languages,” Gibson says. “I would guess that it’s an accidental property of how the laws were written the first time, but we don’t know that yet.”

The researchers hope that their work, which has identified specific aspects of legal language that make it more difficult to understand, will motivate lawmakers to try to make laws more comprehensible. Efforts to write legal documents in plainer language date to at least the 1970s, when President Richard Nixon declared that federal regulations should be written in “layman’s terms.” However, legal language has changed very little since that time.

“We have learned only very recently what it is that makes legal language so complicated, and therefore I am optimistic about being able to change it,” Gibson says.

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How “blue” and “green” appeared in a language that didn’t have words for them

A magnifying glass on top of a law document; it warps the text. A large wavey “?” icon is in the magnifying glass.

Even lawyers don’t like legalese

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Objection: No one can understand what you’re saying

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Essays and dissertation
Essays and dissertation. MPhil students are required to submit two essays and a dissertation. Each of them must be on a topic approved by the Degree Committee that falls within one of the specified subject areas. The essays should be on topics from two different subject areas. You are encouraged to explore a range of different topics, balancing ...
Essays and dissertation
Part III students are required to submit four essays and a dissertation, as follows: Two Research Papers, each of not more than 5,000 words, on topics chosen in discussion with a supervisor and approved by the HPS Board.Each Research Paper must fall into a different one of the ten designated subject areas.Research Paper 1 is due on the Monday of Week 7 in Michaelmas Term, and Research Paper 2 ...
Writing
Most HPS students therefore use a short form of author-date-page in the essay itself, e.g. Smith (1992), 32-34, and give the full reference in the bibliography. Keep track of your citations as you write so that you do not have to spend hours shortly before the deadline hunting for the exact location of the citation now so central to your ...
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This includes Part II Primary Source Essays and Dissertations, Part III Research Papers, and MPhil Essays. The samples include a range of historical and philosophical approaches and are intended to provide good examples of each type of work. Please ask at the staff desk for further details. PhD theses (HPS) We hold bound copies of all PhD ...
HPS Resources Guide
The HPS LibGuide is a useful introduction to library resources and research, and covers online resources as well as other print resources in Cambridge. Google Scholar. Google Scholar is an extremely useful search engine for finding key papers about a topic, as well as searching for other papers that have cited them for further reading.
PDF History Faculty Style Guide
relation to the argument of the essay or dissertation; examiners have the discretion to penalise work which grossly abuses the purpose of footnotes. See below for further instructions on footnotes. b. Bibliography. See below for further instructions on bibliography. c. Prefatory material: title page, table of contents (for dissertations only ...
History and Philosophy of Science
The essays are to be submitted at the start of Lent term. Dissertation: Option A students are required to submit a dissertation of up to 8,000 words. This is expected to embody a substantial piece of study on a topic of the student's own choosing, subject to approval by the HPS Board, that falls anywhere within the History and Philosophy of ...
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Examinations for 2023-24 will be as follows: Part I: POL1 & POL2 exams - unseen, invigilated, in-person 3-hour exams. SAN1, SOC1 unseen, open book, online and administered via Moodle. Part IIA & Part IIB for POL, SAN & SOC: unseen, open book, online and administered via Moodle. Students taking online exams will be required to take their exams ...
LibGuides: History and Philosophy of Science: HPS Collections
The 'Whipple Library' is the specialist library for HPS in Cambridge, and one of the leading libraries for the history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine in the UK. Its primary function is to support the teaching and research carried out by students and staff in the Department, but we are also open to all members of the University and welcome users from all subjects, both to ...
Cambridge retrospective: History and Philosophy of Science
I recently concluded a year long study-abroad program at the University of Cambridge. ... Writing HPS essays required me to block out large chunks of my time during the weekend for them; I rarely stayed up late doing assigned computer science work, but did so more than I would like the night an HPS essay was due. ...
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
The introduction should not only introduce the topic, it should introduce your argument. That means that you should tell the reader what you are going to prove and how you are going to prove it. Unless the introduction gives the reader a clear map of the essay, she is likely to get lost. Be direct and specific.
Advice on writing a sociology essay
Contact Us. Key to writing a good Sociology essay is a clear argument based on a careful and critical reading of the material relevant to the question. In the first instance, this will be the books and articles the paper organiser has indicated you should read in the paper guide. Pay careful attention to the language a particular author uses ...
Human, Social, and Political Sciences
Study Resources. The HSPS Tripos has a supervison recommendation policy which you can read here. Each department within the HSPS Tripos has compiled information to advise students on essay writing, supervisions and exams. Visit the respective websites for further information: POLIS. Social Anthropology. Sociology.
History and Philosophy of Science Collections in Cambridge
Email Me. Contact: Whipple Library. Department of History and Philosophy of Science. University of Cambridge. Free School Lane. Cambridge CB2 3RH. UK. +44 (0)1223 334547.
History and philosophy of science takes form
Accordingly, this essay brushes off a forgotten genealogy of the relations of history and philosophy and science, thereby revealing a neglected past cognitive identity of HPS and suggesting a means to re-imagine its future. ... It seems likely that the Cambridge HPS Department was later shaped at least as much by Michael Hoskin and Mary Hesse ...
Part II
The Part II course in History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) gives students an insight into the historical development of science, medicine and technology. It addresses questions about the nature of scientific knowledge, and critically examines the social authority given to scientific expertise. It thus provides essential intellectual ...
Cambridge (MPhil HPS) vs. LSE (MSc Phil of Science) vs. St. Andrews
1) I am most excited about Cambridge HPS just from an objective perspective. It is an exciting program and is relatively prestigious by my lights. There are some caveats, however. Notably, there is no coursework. Basically you write three research essays and then a lengthier fourth "dissertation". The papers make up the entirety of the grade.
Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science
To introduce students to major topics in the history and philosophy of science, and to. The summative essay tests knowledge and understanding of the course Amazon.com: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science HPS Essay Guide - The University of Sydney Cambridge retrospective: History and Philosophy of Science: Inside.
Dissertation
The dissertation gives you the chance to explore a topic of interest in depth; it gives you practice in essential writing skills; and it should sharpen your capacity for analysis and posing questions. Part II students in the past have found the dissertation to be the most rewarding aspect of the course. The dissertation counts for 20% of the ...
Whipple Library
Using the Whipple collections. Exhibitions and Displays. Exhibitions and Displays overview. 200 years of Scientific Publishing at the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Discovering Past Readers. Learning that Incomparable Art in The Most Famous & Ancient Metropolis. Prohibition of Science: Banned Books and the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
Human, Social, and Political Sciences, BA (Hons)
Minimum offer level. A level: A*AA IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.. Subject requirements. While we don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Colleges normally require A*/7 in an essay-based subject.
MIT study explains why laws are written in an incomprehensible style
An MIT study on "legalese" suggests this convoluted language acts to convey a sense of authority in legal documents. The researchers also found that even non-lawyers use legalese when asked to write laws.

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