TÜRKÇE
ENGLISH
Information
| Unit | |
| Code | SD0831 |
| Name | MUSIC, MEDICINE, AND NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES |
| Term | 2026-2027 Academic Year |
| Term | Fall |
| Duration (T+A) | 2-0 (T-A) (17 Week) |
| ECTS | 3 ECTS |
| National Credit | 2 National Credit |
| Teaching Language | Türkçe |
| Level | Üniversite Dersi |
| Label | UCC University Common Course |
| Mode of study | Yüz Yüze Öğretim |
| Catalog Information Coordinator | Prof. Dr. SERPİL DEMİRCİ KAYIRAN |
| Course Instructor |
Prof. Dr. SERPİL DEMİRCİ KAYIRAN
(Güz)
(A Group)
(Ins. in Charge)
|
Course Goal / Objective
The primary objective of the course is to examine the historical and intellectual connections that could be established between music, medicine, natural science, and pharmaceutical knowledge in the Middle Ages from the perspectives of two distinct fields of expertise. Accordingly, the course aims to help students understand how fields of knowledge—which are today defined as separate disciplines—historically intersected, and to evaluate the relationships between musical production and the era’s understandings of humanity, the body, nature, and health from a critical and comparative perspective.
Course Content
Today, music, medicine, pharmacy, and the natural sciences are fields of expertise separated by distinct boundaries. In the intellectual world of the Middle Ages, however, humanity, nature, the body, health, numbers, sound, and the cosmic order were not treated as entirely independent topics. Therefore, understanding the musical thought of that era is not limited to focusing solely on the formal characteristics of musical works; similarly, understanding the history of medicine and pharmacy is not limited to focusing solely on therapeutic substances or practices. The mode of knowledge production during that period reveals a more holistic intellectual framework in which these fields intersect. The proposed course aims to provide students in the field of health with the opportunity to evaluate the medieval traditions of medicine, natural substances, plants, and materia medica by relating them to a different intellectual sphere. On the music side, the goal is for students to first become acquainted with historical ideas regarding the origins, function, and place of music within the system of the sciences; and then to see on what common conceptual ground these ideas converge with understandings of the body, nature, and health.
Course Precondition
Resources
Nancy G. Siraisi – Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Introduction to Knowledge and Practice University of Chicago Press, 1990. Bruce W. Holsinger – Music, Body, and Desire in Medieval Culture: Hildegard of Bingen to Chaucer Mohammad Sadegh Ansari – The Science of Music
Notes
Lecture notes.
Course Learning Outcomes
| Order | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| LO01 | Explain how the concepts of music, medicine, nature, and the body were situated within the intellectual world of the Middle Ages |
| LO02 | It explains the role played by the concepts of music, medicine, nature, and the body in the intellectual world of the Middle Ages |
| LO03 | It assesses the role of natural substances, plants, and the materia medica approach in the medieval tradition of medicine and pharmacy. |
| LO04 | It discusses the role of music within the system of the sciences in the Middle Ages and its impact on the intellectual thought of the period. |
| LO05 | Can analyze historical sources and concepts from different disciplines in a comparative manner. |
| LO06 | He or she can interpret a historical phenomenon from an interdisciplinary perspective without reducing it to a single field of expertise. |
Week Plan
| Week | Topic | Preparation | Methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An Introduction to the World of Knowledge in the Middle Ages | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap |
| 2 | Ancient Perspectives on the Origins of Music | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap |
| 3 | The Legacy of Ancient Medicine and Materia Medica | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Soru-Cevap, Anlatım |
| 4 | Number, Ratio, Harmony, and the Universe | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 5 | Body, Nature, and Balance | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 6 | Music as a Science in the Middle Ages | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 7 | Knowledge of Medicine, Plants, and Natural Substances in the Middle Ages | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 8 | Mid-Term Exam | Mid-exam preparation | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
| 9 | Conceptions of Sound, the Body, and Nature in the Middle Ages | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap |
| 10 | The historical and intellectual context of the Middle Ages; situating its multifaceted output within the contexts of music, nature, and medical knowledge. | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap |
| 11 | An evaluation of the body of knowledge on plants, natural substances, the human body, and health from the perspectives of the history of pharmacy and pharmaceutical tradition. | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 12 | The Case of Hildegard von Bingen: Her approach to composition, the relationship between text and music, listening to selected works from her repertoire, and analyzing them within their historical context. | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 13 | A comparison of two fields of knowledge through shared concepts, images, and worldviews, using Hildegard as an example; an examination of the historical context rather than direct causality. | Preliminary preparation | |
| 14 | A synthesis of the examples discussed throughout the course; a comparison of modern disciplinary boundaries with the production of historical knowledge; and student evaluations. | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Anlatım, Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 15 | Overall Assessment | Preliminary preparation | Öğretim Yöntemleri: Soru-Cevap, Tartışma |
| 16 | Term Exams | term exams preparation | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
| 17 | Term Exams | term exams preparation | Ölçme Yöntemleri: Yazılı Sınav |
Student Workload - ECTS
| Works | Number | Time (Hour) | Workload (Hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Related Works | |||
| Class Time (Exam weeks are excluded) | 15 | 2 | 30 |
| Out of Class Study (Preliminary Work, Practice) | 7 | 3 | 21 |
| Assesment Related Works | |||
| Homeworks, Projects, Others | 7 | 3 | 21 |
| Mid-term Exams (Written, Oral, etc.) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Total Workload (Hour) | 74 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 (h) | 2,96 | ||
| ECTS | 3 ECTS | ||