Course Details

It’s a given among many scientists that understanding how the natural world works (including mathematics) is an invaluable guide to understanding both the origins and evolution of human values. Yet these ideas rarely make it into humanities courses. Quantum mechanics offers insight into how  deep truths can appear to be mutually exclusive; special and general relativity demonstrate the power of constants that don’t change no matter what (symmetries), and how notions we accept as fundamental (like space and time) sometimes aren’t. The mathematics of game theory makes strong arguments that cooperative strategies are, in the long run, more successful than ruthlessly competitive ones, and that symmetry can inform fairness. Biology illuminates how symbiotic relations have been central to evolution, and how all life is connected. The “environment” is not something “out there,” separate from us. It IS us. Indeed, everything in the universe is connected, including matter and energy; a sense of community is built into nature. Neuroscience and psychology have given us an understanding of why we so easily fall into logical and destructive behaviors, why we fail to see the future consequences of our actions, why we find it nearly impossible to admit mistakes or “see” any “truths” we do not expect.

Students will read widely in physics, philosophy, mathematics, evolutionary biology. They will be responsible for written assignments based on those readings, independent study and presentations. Students will be encouraged to apply what they learn to their own fields of study and also to their personal lives.