3.0

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How well do we understand the natural world? Are there common principles that can explain everything about it? What remains to be understood? Do we understand our past well enough to predict our future? Can I really take this seminar even if I don’t have a background in science or math? Yes you can! In this seminar we are going to emulate the Greeks, who without the benefit of the technological and mathematical armamentarium available today, driven simply by curiosity and their imagination, identified some of the fundamental questions that still puzzle us today. In the process they laid the foundation for modern science. Many of their insights have stood the test of time. We will examine the nature of nature by asking deep questions about the world around us and by examining phenomena we experience in our daily lives. We’ll try to identify continuity and connectivity between aspects of nature that are usually treated separately. Perhaps you’ll discover that science and religion, and scientific and humanistic inquiry, are more similar than you might think. Our seminar is organized around weekly conversations informed by all manner of sources: popular science writing, newspaper articles, fiction, poetry, and film. We will even do simple experiments in my lab (no lab or science experience necessary) to illustrate the logic of life.