Announcing Big Ideas Courses
Announcing the Big Ideas Courses!
Big Ideas Courses are taught by interdisciplinary teams of our best teachers. They approach a topic from more than one disciplinary perspective, and they invite students from all disciplinary backgrounds to participate.
You can see details about all five spring 2013 Big Ideas Courses at http://bigideascourses.berkeley.edu. Brief details below. (Note: some have not yet been assigned L&S breadth, but it may be worthwhile grabbing a seat while they are still available.)
L&S 22: Sense and Sensibility and Science
Nobelist Saul Perlmutter (Physics), John Campbell (Philosophy) and Rob MacCoun (Public Policy, Law)
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:00-2:00, CCN: 51863 - 3 units
The approaches to problem-solving developed by scientists have proven to be quite effective, and yet we as individuals, groups, and larger societies do not often seem to be able to take advantage even of rational approaches to problems--let alone the "hyper-rationality" offered by science. Watching the political process of our country--or even the discussions of a small committee--can therefore often feel quite disheartening. We should be able to do better!
Interested students: please fill out a short, simple demographic survey at http://bit.ly/SiW9Iz and waitlist yourself for the course.
Letters & Science 121: Origins in Science and Religion
Ron Hendel (Near Eastern Studies) and Kevin Padian (Integrative Biology)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:30, ccn: 51992 - 4 Units
This course explores the concepts of origins in science and religion and their cultural contexts and entanglements, from antiquity to the present. Popular culture tends to emphasize the conflict between science and religion on such issues, particularly, in recent times, with respect to the origin of life and its evolution (including human evolution). We hold that science must acknowledge history, both the history of the natural world and the history of concepts about it, and that religion must deal with the changing knowledge of science, including issues of origins, causation, and teleology. Our guiding questions include: What are origins, and why do we want to know about them? How does this desire manifest itself in different ways of constructing and analyzing knowledge? What sorts of intellectual processes, standards, and tests can be applied to different concepts of origins? What happens when different notions of origins clash? How do we negotiate these clashes in today’s world?
Satisfies the Philosophy and Values breadth requirement in the College of Letters & Science.
Letters & Science 122: Time
Raphael Bousso (Physics), Hubert Dreyfus (Philosophy) and Sean Kelly (Harvard Philosophy)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:30, ccn: 52013 - 4 Units
Augustine said, famously, that he always thought he understood what time was until he started thinking about it. That was when he realized he had no idea. This course will address various aspects of the nature of time, including the way we experience it, the way it organizes our everyday world, and the way it stands – if it does – at the foundation of the physical universe.
Computer Science C79 (CCN: 26459) Statistics C79 (CCN: 87960) and Political Science C79 (CCN 71570): Societal Risks and Law
Cathryn Carson (History), Nicholas P. Jewell (Public Health), Stephen Mahin (Civil Engineering), Jasjeet Sekhon (Political Science), Philip B. Stark (Statistics), and David Wagner (Computer Science)
Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:30, 3 Units
What does "risk" mean? How can it be measured or estimated? Which risks are worth worrying about, and which are not? Which should you be more concerned about: driving while texting, salmonella in Caesar salad, global warming, BPA, living near power lines, or a major earthquake? To what extent can laws and regulations reduce risks or protect us from risks such as these? To what extent should they? How much should society be willing to pay to insure us from such risks? This course addresses these questions by examining a variety of risks ranging from earthquakes to food contaminants to nuclear power to cellphones, and legislative and regulatory responses to those risks.
Satisfies the Social and Behavioral Sciences breadth requirement in the College of Letters & Science.
Music 128P: Music and Meaning
Hannah Ginsborg (Philosophy) and Mary Ann Smart (Music)
Tuesday 1:00-4:00, ccn: 60568 - 3 Units
This course will explore the question of whether music has meaning, and if so, what kind. Can music represent, say, birdsong, or the sea, or merely imitate? If music expresses emotions, then whose--those of the listener? the composer? the performer? We will consider parallels and contrasts between linguistic and musical meaning, theories of how music can be expressive, and the question of whether music can convey political meaning. The course will be taught as a seminar, and students will be expected to participate actively. Each week’s discussion will be structured around the interaction between musical excerpts and readings, drawn from historical and contemporary literature in philosophy, musicology, and the psychology of music.
This course is instructor approval only. Interested students please email both instructors at masmart@berkeley.edu and ginsborg@berkeley.edu.