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History and Philosophy of Science
In response to increasing student interest in science’s latest answers to the Big Questions, and the growing importance of science in today’s knowledge economy, Sacramento State has joined the ranks of top-tier universities offering History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) programs. Sacramento State's HPS Program includes student research fellows, new course offerings in the Department of History, visiting scholars, graduate student liaisons, and more.
Michael Epperson
Program Director
"Program Cultivates Critical Thinking" by Sophia De Leon - State Hornet
In collaboration with the Department of History, with the expertise of its many faculty with strong publication and teaching records in the areas of history of science, history of medicine, and history of technology, Sacramento State’s HPS Program is a joint initiative bridging the College of Arts and Letters with the Consortium for Philosophy and the Natural Sciences (CPNS). This partnership leverages CPNS’s international team of research fellows, strong research and publication record (including articles in Nature, Foundations of Physics, and other top journals, as well as numerous books from publishers including Oxford University Press, Springer, etc.) and grant funding (over $1 million since 2008) into innovative courses, student research internships, advising, and programmatic offerings for Sacramento State students.
New Courses
Visiting Scholar Series
Student Research Initiative - A Faculty Mentored Undergraduate Research Group
Student Mentorship and Graduate School Advising from CPNS Graduate Student Liaisons
Sacramento State's HPS Program will be further strengthened by its integration with other CPNS and partner initiatives, including:
CPNS PROGRAM FOR SCIENCE AND HUMAN VALUES
Graduate Courses at U.C. Berkeley - Graduate Theological Union: Starting spring 2015, the CPNS Program for Science and Human Values, in collaboration with U.C. Berkeley-GTU, will be offering graduate courses that explore the history and philosophy of religion and modern science. The first of these courses was "Orthodox Christianity and Modern Science: A Dialogue with the Western Scholastic Tradition, taught by Michael Epperson (ST 4320, Tuesdays 11:10 - 2:00 PM, MUDD 205)
History Department Curriculum Design Grant awarded to design CSUS’s first history of science and religion course. HIST 104B, "Reading the Heavens: The Coevolution of Christian and Scientific Understandings of the Universe in the West" examines the co-evolution of western science and Christian theology from the vantage point of intellectual history.
HPS STUDENT RESEARCH INITIATIVE
As part of Sacramento State's History and Philosophy of Science Initiative, CPNS Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research Fellows develop and implement interdisciplinary research projects bridging empirical inquiry within the fields of the natural sciences and mathematics (NSM) into cross-connection with the field of history and philosophy of science (HPS). These faculty supervised student research projects give undergraduates crucial experience in the synthesis of new ideas and their proper investigation via both empirical study and analysis of scholarly literature in the natural sciences, philosophy of science, and history of science. Beyond these goals, the CPNS Student Research Initiative provides students with the unique opportunity to network and collaborate with both CPNS Graduate Research Fellows and CPNS Faculty Research Fellows across multiple institutions, both nationally and internationally.
HPS Student Research Projects
Spring 2026: Zachary Siegel - History Major
HIST 199 Project: "The Abstract and the Divine in Natural Philosophy"
Fall 2025: Ryan Ballez - Political Science Major
HIST 199 Project: "Beyond the Paradigm Trap: Private vs. Public Funding Models and the Innovation Imperative in Scientific Research"
Spring 2025: Ian Webster - Sociology Major
HIST 199 Project: "The Problem of Future Contingents: How the Conceptual Framework of Decoherent Histories in Quantum Mechanics Yields New Insights into Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences"
Fall 2024: Michelle Spremich - History MA Thesis: "From Pythagoras to Ibn Al-Haytham: The importance of abstractionism within the evolution of science, a multicultural perspective"
Spring 2024: Hannah McCoy - History Major. HIST 199 Project: "Biological Sex and Gender: Causative or Interrelated?"
Fall 2023: Gavin Roberts - History and Ethnic Studies Double Major. HIST 199 Project: "The Application of Complexity Theory to the Evolution of Racial and Ethnic Social Dynamics in the United States"
Spring 2023: Byron Saylor - Computer Science Major. HIST 199 Project: "Social and Educational Implications of Generative LLM Artificial Intelligence"
Fall 2024: Kevin Rivera - Political Science Major. HIST 199 Project: "Artificial Intelligence: Facts and Fictions"
Spring 2022: Michelle Spremich - MA Program. HIST 299 Project: "Mathematics, the Hierarchy of Knowledge, and the Scientific Method"
Spring 2019: Michelle Spremich - History Major. HIST 199 Project: "History of Modern Quantum Theory and Its Mathematical Foundations"
Christopher Keys - Physics Major. ALS 199 Project: "The History of Tesla's Oscillator." Christopher earned his Ph.D. in Engineering and Computer Science at Duke University in 2025.
Elizabeth Keys - Physics Major. ALS 199 Project: "HPS Ultimate Questions Student Discussion Group." Elizabeth earned her Ph.D. in Engineering and Computer Science at Duke University in 2025.
Lok Chi Chan - Philosophy Major. CPNS Scholarship Award to attend the Fetzer / ETH Zurich Conference on Science and Spirituality in Cortona, Italy. Lok is currently a Ph.D. student in Philosophy at Duke University.
CPNS Graduate Research Fellows
Michelle Spremich, CPNS Graduate Research Fellow, MA Program - Department of History, CSUS (Previously CPNS Undergraduate Research Fellow, Department of History, CSUS)
Michelle's CPNS research article was published in Clio, the academic journal of the national History Honor Society Phi Alpha Theta, Rho Xi Chapter. The article, "Ancient Greek Ideas on the Nature of Reality and Their Direct Influence on the Discovery of Quantum Mechanics" was written as a project of the CPNS HPS Student Research Initiative. Soon after, Michelle earned her BA and entered the MA program and became a CPNS Graduate Research Fellow. Her MA thesis is entitled: "Mathematics, the Hierarchy of Knowledge, and the Scientific Method: How Mathematics Influenced the Progression of Science from Ancient Greece and the Islamic World to Modern Physics."
Elizabeth Keys, CPNS Graduate Research Fellow, Ph.D. Program - Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University (Previously CPNS Undergraduate Research Fellow - Department of Physics, CSUS)
A Sacramento State physics major and CPNS Undergraduate Research Fellow, Elizabeth was accepted to Duke University’s PhD program in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Elizabeth was a student coordinator for CPNS's Ultimate Questions Discussion Group and HPS Student Research Initiative. She has won multiple Royal Vandenberg and James Clerk Maxwell Awards, is a member of the National Physics Honor Society, and has worked on a number of different research projects, including the 2016 BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope) project, serving as an instrument designer. Recent research projects include an analysis of semi-elastic collisions in ballistics and a study investigating negative refraction in metamaterials.
Christopher Keys, CPNS Graduate Research Fellow, Ph.D. Program - Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University (Previously CPNS Undergraduate Research Fellow - Department of Physics, CSUS)
Christopher, a Sacramento State physics major and CPNS Undergraduate Research Fellow, was accepted to Duke University’s PhD program in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Christopher was a student coordinator for CPNS's HPS Student Research Initiative, developing an historical and scientific analysis of the Tesla Oscillator and its potential applications in modern structural engineering. Christopher has won multiple Royal Vandenberg and James Clerk Maxwell Awards. He has served as the President of the local chapter of the Society of Physics Students, and during his entire tenure at CSUS has served as a volunteer physics tutor. In addition, Christopher has worked on a number of different research projects, including the 2016 BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope) project (he designed and built the pressure vessel and internal components housing the data storage unit).
HPS VISITING SCHOLARS
Selected Talks Given at Sacramento State
David Finkelstein, Professor of Physics at Georgia Tech and CPNS Senior Research Fellow gave a talk at a CPNS Workshop on Logical Causality in Quantum Mechanics. August 15, 2008, 10:00 – 11:30 am, CSUS Department of Philosophy. David served as a senior co-investigator on the CPNS research program, "Logical Causality in Quantum Mechanics: Relational Realism and the Evolution of Ontology to Praxiology in Natural Philosophy"
Timothy Eastman, a space physicist at NASA Goddard and CPNS Senior Research Fellow specializing in space plasma and plasma astrophysics, gave a series of two lectures on the history and philosophy of modern cosmology and recent breakthroughs in our understanding of the origin of the universe. November 5 - "Cosmic Agnosticism: Current Problems and Alternative Perspectives in Cosmology" - California State University, Sacramento (Public lecture for a general audience.) 7:00 - 8:30 pm, Petris Room, University Library: November 6 - "The Plasma Universe: Gravity Plus Electromagnetism" Department of Physics Colloquium - California State University, Sacramento 4:00 - 5:20, Mendocino Hall 1015
Professor Robert Geyer of the University of Lancaster, UK gave a lecture on complexity theory and public policy entitled "Using Complexity to Help Understand and Manage Public Policy" - California State University, Sacramento. Nov. 19, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Petris Room, University Library
Dr. Elias Zafiris, Institute of Mathematics, University of Athens and CPNS Senior Research Fellow, gave a seminar for the Department of Mathematics entitled “A Sheaf Theoretic Framework for the Representation of Quantum Event Structures in Terms of Boolean Covering Systems” – October 25, 3:00 – 4:00 pm, CSUS Department of Mathematics, Brighton Hall Rm. 204
Professor Spyridon Koutroufinis, Technische Universität Berlin and CPNS Senior Research Fellow, gave a lecture entitled, “Between Teleology and Mechanism: The History of the Concept of Organism from a Philosophic Perspective” - California State University, Sacramento. March 7, 1:30 - 2:45 pm, Summit Room, University Union
Dr. Karim Bschir, Chair for Philosophy, ETH Zurich, gave a lecture entitled "The Concept of Potentiality in Modern Science" where he explores the advantages for modern science in the revitalization of an ontologically relevant notion of potentiality. California State University, Sacramento. October 23, 2012, 1:30 - 2:45 pm, Folsom Room, University Union
HPS PROGRAM COURSES
Fall 2025 & Spring 2026
HIST 104A: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF ANCIENT SCIENCE
This course examines the historical foundations and evolution of ancient Greek physics, mathematics, and medicine, from the natural philosophy of the Presocratics to post-Aristotelian thought. Particular emphasis is given to the development of formal propositional logic and formalized inductive and deductive reasoning and their effect on the progression of Hellenic and Hellenistic physics, medicine, and mathematics. Along the way, we will explore the surprising ways in which key aspects of these ancient Greek conceptual frameworks have been reincorporated into current scientific theories, including quantum physics and cosmology.
HIST 107: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES
In this course, we will study the historical evolution of the conceptual foundations of modern physics, including the rise and fall of the 17th century mechanical paradigm and the subsequent rise of field theory (and its rehabilitation of the ancient Hellenic concept of purely mathematical objects that are physically significant). We will trace this evolution from its origins in ancient natural philosophy, through the medieval and early modern periods and the Enlightenment, up to the physics of today--the special and general theories of relativity and the latest interpretations of quantum mechanics.
HIST 199: SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF QUANTUM THEORY
Among the many exotic interpretations of quantum theory—those entailing ‘multiverse’ cosmologies, ‘retro-causality,’ and physical (not just mathematical) superpositions of alternative actual system states—lies a single core principle: Quantum theory’s most emblematic feature is its invalidation of classical logic. Yet the rules of classical logic are, at the same time, necessarily presupposed by quantum mechanics; indeed, they are the very rules used to formalize it in the first place. In this course we will explore these and other foundational problems, with the thesis that by understanding their historical and philosophical origins, we can chart the best path toward their solution.
Contact Us
Director
Michael Epperson
Campus Office
Benicia Hall #1012
916-287-8062
epperson@csus.edu
Mailing Address
Consortium for Philosophy and the Natural Sciences
Department of History
MS 6059
California State University, Sacramento
6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819