This course engages science and non-science students in a discussion of the nature of science and its relationship to society. Some of the major conceptual developments in science since the Renaissance, including the work of Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein, are presented and examined so that students gain an appreciation for the philosophical, social, and cultural contexts that have shaped science and defined the role of the scientist in the modern world. Rapid technological change has provided the means for increased development of a world economy and larger nation-states. The result has been that environmental impacts have moved from a limited local and regional focus to becoming more global in recent decades. This course puts the increasing environmental effects of human values and culture into historical context.
Students also research the environmental changes in a distinct bio-region or smaller place.
This course examines transnational cultural and intellectual trends in 20th-century Europe. The tendency toward homogeneity and the influence of the U.S. culture on European popular culture are explored along with trends in European academia. In particular, this course focuses on the transition from modernism to postmodernism in European academia by looking at such writers as Whitehead, Wells, Foucault, LeviStrauss, and Derrida. Under consultation with the student's major adviser, history majors write a proposal for their senior thesis or project. The proposal, due by the last day of the semester, should include a bibliography, a discussion of major primary and secondary sources, proposed methodology, and a brief summary of the subject.