Mathematical Life and Death in the Ancient Greek World
Colin McLarty
A seminar on the earliest mathematical proofs. The Greek Thales studied with Egyptian priests and gave the first geometric proof. Pythagoras went to Egypt, on Thales's advice, then founded a mathematical religious colony in Italy. Plato took much philosophy and mathematics from the Pythagoreans. Aristotle took only mathematics. Their arguments over mathematical science echoed in the world-city of Alexandria, where even slaves were encouraged to be scholars. There Euclid wrote the standard mathematics text for the next 2,000 years. The great Archimedes synthesized Platonic and Aristotelian conceptions. His mathematics inspired Galileo's and Newton's physics. His war machines inspired a Roman soldier to kill himon sight. A woman, Hypatia, later became the leading mathematician and Platonist philosopher of Alexandria and was tornto pieces by a mob for her pagan ideas. What did mathematics mean to these people? What can we learn about religious freedom, or about the science of war? Why do we all accept mathematics form 200 BC whole only specialist scholars rememberthe physics, biology, or religion of ancient Greece?
Myth, Ritual and Society in the Ancient Greek World
Paul Iversen
This course introduces students to Greek, Roman, and some near Eastern myth as well as issues of interpreting these stories. The focus will be on myth as a concomitant feature of religious ritual. What do myths and rituals tell us about the society that generated it? What were its values, its collective memories and how do they compare to ours?
Mathematics and the Quest for Truth
David Singer
This course explores the philosophical nature of truth and the role played by mathematics in the search for truth. We focus on key discoveries of the last 200 years which changed the way we understand the nature of truth. I: The discovery of non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclid was questioned from the very beginning, but it was not untilthe nineteenth century that new geometries were discovered which differed from that of Euclid. We will study these ideas and how they undermined the Kantian view of truth. II: Paradoxes of Infinity. We will look at the paradoxes of Zeno, Cantor, and Russell, and how mathematicians have struggled with the infinite. We will examine the resulting split into the Platonist, formalist, and intuitionist theories of mathematical truth. III: Godel, Turing, and Post. The mathematical reasoning of Cantor led unexpectedly to the discovery that the axiomatic approach to truth had fundamental, and apparently irreparable, flaws. We will examine the incompleteness theorem of Godel and the ideas of Turing and others on computation, and how these ideas are playing out today in the age of the computer. This class is limited to students participating in SAGES.
Math and Art
Joel Langer and Henry Adams
Students in this University Seminar will explore relationships between art and mathematics. Topics include: pattern, symmetry and beauty in natural forms; symmetry and proportion in art, architecture, ornament and design; perspective and optics; number, iteration, and infinity; mathematical and computer techniques and themes in art, architecture and design.
Beethoven and the Age of Revolution
Richard Nelson
Beethoven's music is symbolic of the age and spirit of change which reached is zenith with the French Revolution. Fueled by political, social, and emotional reactions, his oeuvre was remarkable in every way. From the early works, imitative of Haydn and Mozart, through his truly unique later compositions, Beethoven was revolutionary in his person and in hismusic. The course will center around specific Beethoven masterworks which are being presented by University Circle Institutions, and student attendance at these concerts will be required. Class sessions will involve discussions concerning the historical and cultural setting, influences, and analytic investigation into these masterworks. Readings will be taken from Joseph Kaman and Alan Tyson (The New Grove Beethoven), Frida Knight (Beethoven and the Age of Revolution), and George Marek (Beethoven: Biography of a Genius). This course is directed towards the general university student, and no specialized kowledge of music is necessary, although certain rudimentary aspects of musical discourse will be covered.
Visions of Landscape
Michael Cunnigham
This course will examine the characteristics which identifythe concept of "place," better known as "landscape" in the history of Western and East Asian cultures. It will emphasize the recognition of basic East Asian modes of pictorial andliterary expression both to challenge traditionally held western points of view and as a vehicle to stimulate students'engagement in grasping new modes of visual and cognitive perception. Using readings, slide lectures, discussion, and weekly visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art galleries, it will introduce the various ways in which artists have sought tocomprehend and then portray the world around him/her. This seminar seeks to introduce students to non-western appearances and cultural values, challenging them to evaluate their own traditions and beliefs using primarily the faculty of looking closely. This is typically an undeveloped, challenging,and exciting experience, especially when the student has easy access to actual paintings. They can better analyze for themselves "what is there" in relation to what has been written about it using their own experience, and emerging analytical skill.
Apophatic Theology
Florin Berindeanu
This course is an introduction to the philosophy and consequences for literature and arts of negative theology. Known also, by its original Greek name, as apophatics, negative theology started as a mystical movement intent to oppose the doctrinal power and influence of the Catholic Church. In very basic terms, negative theology, holds that because God is clearly not of this world, God cannot be described in terms of what is, but only in terms of what is not. The apophaticdiscourse aims at liberating the theological thinking of scholastic-doctrinaire rigidity while indirectly warning of the increasingly institutional power of the Church viewed as contrary to the proto-Christian principles of essentiality. In response, the discourse of negative theology will evolve around simplicity and abstraction of thinking; for them, thinking religiously means withdrawing all barriers of expression and thus not limiting speaking to a certain fixed language or content.
Digital Storytelling
Wendy Shapiro, Christine Sciulli, and Jacklyn Crisholm
Storytelling can be a powerful tool to communicate and share experiences, explore meaning, and help people connect to one another. Storytelling bridges age, race, gender, and culture. It explains myth and creates a way to express individual voice. In today's digital age, there is an opportunity to illuminate, illustrate, and express our stories with sensoryimages. Students in this course will learn to tell their own story, create collaborative stories, and understand other viewpoints through the use of digital media. For example, students can hear and record an elderly relative's journey, digitize photos from the past and present that story in context with their own lives. A group of students can explore a myth or past historical event by gathering images (letters, photos, music, art) and through crafting the story. |
