Spring 2010 Course Descriptions: PDF / word

 

ILS153

Ways of Knowing in the Sciences

The practice of science is often portrayed as simply conducting experiments in laboratories, yet science involves a much greater diversity of practices. This class will take a journey through the multiple "ways of knowing" that scientists use in the physical, biological and environmental sciences via observation, experimentation, analysis and simulation. One of the overarching goals of the course is to examine various types of scientific knowledge and explore how data are interpreted and ultimately accepted by the scientific community: This aspect is important for global citizens to understand in order to make personal, community-based and global decisions. Students will investigate unifying scientific principles and apply them to some major scientific ideas such as evolution and human-induced climate change. We will talk about the role of uncertainty in scientific data and how this influences the ways in which data get interpreted and communicated to the society at large. We agree with Rachel Carson (1952) who said: "This notion that “science” is something that belongs in a separate compartment of its own, apart from everyday life, is one that I should like to challenge. We live in a scientific age; yet we assume that knowledge is the prerogative of only a small number of human beings… This is not true. The materials of science are the materials of life itself. Science is the reality of living, it is the what, the how, and the why in everything in our experience."

 ILS 153 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS157

Bradley Roundtable Seminar

The Bradley roundtable seminar addresses various topics. Open to the residents of the Bradley Learning Community.

ILS200

Critical Thinking & Expression

How can we make our voices heard? What do we want to say? Where do we want to say it? This is a course about becoming active participants in politics and culture. This course will focus on 20th Century political and cultural events. Students will use the writings of others as models and inspiration to explore their own potential. This is an opportunity, first, to analyze why and how the words of others succeed or fail to move us and then for students to apply those insights to their own writing and speaking. Communicating, in print or in speech is a community matter. In this course we will create community, both within sections and among the five sections of the course. There are three instructors for this course: Jessica Brown-Vélez, Robert Schoville, and Shifra Sharlin, each teaching independent sections. The political and cultural figures and movements the sections take up will overlap in some cases and interconnect in productive ways. Scheduled lecture time offers students a chance to learn from one another and, perhaps, collaborate. The instructors see this course as a chance to explore voices – both our own and our students’. Jessica is focusing on the area of US American political and social practice, Robert on globalization, and Shifra on culture. Assignments for this course emphasize the development of written and oral communication skills essential for a variety of kinds of real-world success, as well as academic excellence. This course fulfills the Communications B requirement.

 ILS 200 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS201

Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy I

This course is the first in a sequence of courses that examines the development of philosophy, science, and technology in cultural and intellectual context from antiquity to the twentieth century. The class begins with an examination of perspectives towards the natural world in the poetry, astronomy and medicine of the ancient Near East and the emergence of natural philosophy in Greece. It follows the movement of these traditions into medieval Islam and Christendom, and concludes with the transformation of European science during the 16th and 17th centuries, culminating in the work of Isaac Newton. Throughout our investigation of what science has been in the past, the main thread will be astronomy and cosmology, with some attention to other aspects of nature and to technology. We will pay particular attention to issues which still have relevance today, such as the interaction between philosophy, science, and religion and the importance of changing institutional settings for these activities. Grading will include frequent quizzes in discussion sections and essay exams.

 ILS 201 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS202

Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II

This course offers an introduction to the history of the sciences between the work of Isaac Newton in the late seventeenth century and Albert Einstein in the early twentieth, with the aim of understanding how science came to be so important in modern culture. Investigating the historical significance of such fundamental scientific concepts as gravity, energy, and evolution, and the complex interrelations between theory and experiment, we study the changing ways that scientific and social values have been interwoven in Western culture. Setting the work of individual scientists in social context, the course traces links between ideas, instruments and institutions across both disciplinary and national boundaries. Our studies deliver insight into the changing relations among science and technology, science and religion, and science and the state, as we explore the rise of laboratory-based sciences, the changing cultural status of the scientist, and the professionalization of the scientific disciplines.

  ILS 202 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS203

Western Culture: Literature & the Arts II

This course considers Western literature and art from classical antiquity to the medieval period, with a substantial amount of attention given to ancient Greece and Rome. It will provide a foundational knowledge of some of the works of art and literature that have shaped the Western intellectual tradition. While learning how to read and appreciate textual and material culture, you will also develop critical thinking and discussion skills.

ILS 203 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS204

Western Culture: Literature & the Arts II

ILS 204 is the continuation of ILS 203, but may be taken independently. The course does not presume special background in the arts and literature, and is introductory in scope and method. Course objectives include, first and foremost, providing students with a broad overview of major trends in the arts and literature, as well as in the history of ideas, from the early modern period (or Renaissance) to the present. Examples of painting, sculpture, architecture, drama, scientific thought, poetry, fiction, and music will be placed in the context of prevailing cultural history, values and ideas. Therefore, given the tremendous scope of the material to be covered, the readings and examples of visual art are intended to be broadly representative rather than exhaustive. The class thus differs from an art history or literature course, and no attempt is made to cover all developments in the arts in a sequential order. To bring focus to our trek across so long a historical period and so wide a field of artistic and cultural forms, we will sometimes feature a specific major thinker or artist, and at other times larger movements and schools of thought or art. As well, we will keep several themes before us during the term around which we will try to gather readings and discussion. They may include the following: 1. The idea of “culture” as an ongoing site of struggle, conflict and contested meanings and values, rather than established great works. 2. Evolving attitudes and constructions of what is meant by “nature,” and the human relationship to it. 3. The manner by which Western culture measures the world in order to have knowledge and power over it. 4. The discovery of “Others” (that which is different, strange and exotic from [in this case] Western norms and expectations), both within and external to the individual, and the social, cultural and psychological effects these may produce. 5. The creation of a peculiarly “Western” sense of Self/Identity based in particular ways of seeing. The focus of the course is on how cultural context--the ideas and values regarding religion, philosophy, political views, social practices, aesthetics and so on-- shape and make possible the various expressions found in the arts and literature of the period. As well, students are asked to look critically at the results of Western civilization even as they are invited to admire its achievements.

 

ILS205

Western Culture: Political, Economic & Social Thought I

This course explores the development of modern social, economic and political thought. We begin with Machiavelli’s break with the ancient concern with virtue and continue through Nietzsche’s radical critique of the western philosophical tradition. Along the way, we consider the modern attempt to bring reason to bear on fundamental questions of power and freedom. Thinkers we may cover include: Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche. We will aim both to understand these thinkers on their own terms and to assess their relevance to our contemporary political concerns.

 ILS 205 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS206

Western Culture: Political, Economic & Social Thought II

This course explores the development of modern social, economic and political thought. We begin with Machiavelli’s break with the ancient concern with virtue and continue through Nietzsche’s radical critique of the western philosophical tradition. Along the way, we consider the modern attempt to bring reason to bear on fundamental questions of power and freedom. Thinkers we may cover include: Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche. We will aim both to understand these thinkers on their own terms and to assess their relevance to our contemporary political concerns.

ILS207

History of Western Culture I  AND  II

Introduces the major social, intellectualism, political, and religious developments in Europe from the Italian Renaissance through the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon. Explores cultural history of the Renaissance, Reformation and Catholic Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment. Second, the course focuses on the political development of the early modern state and monarchy, as well as revolutionary, democratic challenges to the monarchy. Third theme highlights social history and asks how peasants and artisans, men and women, and nobles and slaves lived their daily lives and also forged cultures and identities of their own.

ILS209

Introduction to Global Cultures

Drawing on examples from around the globe, this course will explore the ways in which people of various cultures encounter or have encountered each other. These encounters may involve conflict, cooperation, domination, subjugation, assimilation, resistance, withdrawal, or other forms of interaction that are realized historically and contemporarily through economic, political, ideological, cultural, legal, educational, religious, symbolic and other means

 ILS 209 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS234

Genres of WeStErn Religious Studies

Writing intensive course. The lectures introduce students to the three major Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: their sacred texts, histories, rituals, and cultures. Students explore the different genres of each of these traditions, beginning with the Torah, Bible, and Qur'an, and including the Mishnah, Hadith, psalms, liturgy, and prayer. P: Successful completion of or exemption from Com A. Open to Fr.

ILS251

Contemporary Physical Science

Not offered this semester

Real-world problems and societal issues draw us into the world of the physical sciences.  In turn, this world connects to the biological sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.  This course engages students in a contemporary topic such as energy, radioactivity, or global climate change.  The course begins with stories in which real-world people must deal with real-world issues on some part of the planet.  Students then choose a similar story elsewhere on the planet, research it, argue a point of view, and present it to their classmates.

ILS252

Contemporary Life Sciences

A systems-oriented approach to the interrelation of plants and humans in their evolution and cultural development; a historical geographic perspective concluding with a consideration of ecosystems in 20th century America.

ILS 252 Fall 2009 Syllabus

ILS253

Literature and Society

Explores the relation of literary texts to the societies that produced them with special attention to topics such as historical trends, changing social structures, and shifting perspectives on the past. One version of the course considers literary representations of utopia; another explores political and social problems through the lens of literature. Highlights general themes such as leadership, tyranny, and masculinity. Topics are chosen by the instructor and rotate frequently.

ILS254

Literature and Science

A course for science-types interested in fulfilling their literature requirement and humanists interested in the forces transforming the world, ILS 254 encourages discussions from across the "two cultures"  divide. Touching on issues ranging from genetic engineering and artificial intelligence to science fiction utopias and the nature of time, the course readings are drawn from working scientists and writers.

ILS271

Pre-Copernican Astronomy and Cosmology in Crosscultural Perspective

 Astronomy and cosmology, from the cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, India, China and Mesoamerica, through the Arabic and Latin Middle Ages, to Copernicus. Attention to cross-cultural transmission and appropriation of techniques and data; comparisons and contrasts among methods, purposes, and organizing metaphors.

ILS275

Special Topics in Integrated Liberal Studies: Democracy and Expertise / Race and Schooling

The purpose of this course is to create a community of learners who will conduct an inquiry  into the ways that race affects schooling in America in order to build an understanding of how who you are and where you live shapes school experiences.  In particular, we will study the achievement gap: what has caused it and what can be done about it.  Through reading, writing, discussion, and field experience, we will address different factors that create the conditions for teaching and learning in America's schools.  The course is divided into four sections: teachers, schools, learning, and students

ILS298/299

Directed Study

If you are interested in pursuing a directed study, please talk to a professor who shares your area of interest.

ILS371

Interdisciplinary Studies in the Arts and Humanities/Literature and Political Thought in Britain

Professor Booth Fowler

ILS 371 Fall 2009 Syllabus

More advanced variable topics course. This course looks at literature and art or literature and the social sciences in an interdisciplinary perspective and across time. Possible topics include the idea of tragedy, the culture of  the 1960s, the epic tradition or 19th century poetry and political literature.

ILS372

Clas. Fig. Grapple with contemporary Controversies/Interdisciplinary Studies in the Social Sciences

This course is an exciting opportunity to grapple with current political, social, and economic controversies from the perspective of past thinkers, in a venue where we occasionally act as these theorists and political figures in a "talk show" format.  This course will follow the approach of the 1950's television show, Meeting of Minds, in which great thinkers and political figures came back from the dead to be interviewed together on a talk show using Jon Stewart's Daily Show format.  We will read and apply the theories and insights of classical to modern Western thinkers to pressing political and economic controversies, from growing income inequality to global warming.  We will have representatives of homo economicus (economic man), homo moralis (moral man) and Aristotle's man as a political animal.  Students will play the requisite roles (from Jon Stewart to interviewees to audience members who also will represent various viewpoints and be allowed to question the guests on the show) for 3 or 4 “Daily Shows” and each show will be preceded by a few weeks of study, discussion and preparation. We'll ask thinkers and political actors such as Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Barack Obama, John Locke and Adam Smith to return from the dead, as it were, to debate these problems with us.  This should be seen as part improv and part prepared role-playing, in a casual class format in which everyone has a role to play.

 

 

ILS400

Capstone Integration Seminar

Capstone Syllabus

Designed to allow students to reflect on the questions they have encountered in previous ILS courses and develop applications for the challenges they will face in the contemporary world, senior capstone seminars are organized around questions that encourage students to test the power of interdisciplinary methods and think holistically. In recent years, topics have included "Education, Leadership, and Character," "Shakespeare and the Modern World," "The Vietnam Era, "Challenges of Artificial Intelligence and Genetic Engineering," and "Ideas of the Hero"

ILS400

Education Leadership & Character:Meiklejohns Ideal

 

ILS401

Global Cultures Capstone Seminar

Professor Joe Elder

 

ILS490

Research in Integrated Liberal Studies

1-3 credits.  If you are interested in pursuing a research program in ILS, please talk to a professor who shares your area of interest.

ILS681/682

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

If you are interested in pursuing an undergraduate honors study, please talk to a professor who shares your area of interest.

ILS691/692

Undergraduate Thesis

If you are interested in pursuing an undergraduate thesis, please talk to a professor who shares your area of interest.