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Hi 103, 104 World History I and II This course touches on all of world historian Arnold Toynbee's twenty-one historic civilizations. The aims are to acquire the broadest perspective on the world upon entering (or leaving) college; to prepare to enter a world economy and world community; to develop our minds by practice in the liberal historical skills of finding facts, distinguishing primary sources from secondary ones, comparing viewpoints, analyzing evidence, and thinking critically; and to guide students in their education as free men and women. Hi 224 English History I English history from earliest settlement to the reign of Elizabeth I. Origins of the Common Law, Parliament, and English liberty. This course aims to appreciate the English people and their polity in themselves, to see the analogy between the conduct of English sovereigns and today’s national states, to convey knowledge of the English roots of the United States of America, to understand liberal institutions throughout the U.S., Commonwealth, and much of the democratic world. It is conducted in the spirit of liberal education, aiming to develop our minds by practice in the liberal historical skills of finding facts, distinguishing primary sources from secondary ones, comparing viewpoints, analyzing evidence, and thinking critically. Hi 225 English History II English history through the English Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the British Empire, the World Wars, and decline. This course continues English History I. Its pedagogical aims are similar, but it particularly comes to grips with “modern” English history, marked by democracy, industrialism, and great power. British conduct at the time of the American Revolution, her scientific progress, creation of a world literature, her resistance to the French Revolution and Napoleon, the Industrial Revolution, Reform Act of 1832 and successors, deceptive but historic free trade policy, rise of the labor movement, emergence as a short-lived but beneficent Empire, exhaustion in two World Wars, loss of empire in the Commonwealth, resistance to European Union, and decline to a middle-ranked European power are traced. Hi/Po 201 International Relations I Theory and practice of international security (realism and internationalism) and international political economy (liberalism and protectionism) in their historical context. This is an introductory course in international relations (world politics). It covers the four main theories of international security (realism and internationalism) and international political economy (liberalism and protectionism). Topics include power politics, foreign policy, international conflict, international organization and law, the United Nations (charter, structure, and powers), human rights, trade, money and business, integration (European Union), the environment, the North-South gap, and economic development. The perspective is historical (lessons of the past), with a view toward the future (systemic U.N. reform). Hi/Po 202 International Relations II The promise and problems of globalization (spread of free market capitalism and political democracy). This course extends the field of international political economy as presented in International Relations I (fall). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and most Communist party states (1991), globalization has been uniting our world under free markets and liberal democracies. We investigate such themes as that globalization is inevitable and irreversible, and that globalization benefits everyone. Both the new entrepreneurial spirit creating wealth across borders and the persistent pockets of poverty in industrial states and underdeveloped ones are examined. The limits of the environment to unsustainable growth are brought into the picture, as well as the need for new world regulatory agencies to maintain competitiveness in the global market. Hi 204 History of Science and Technology The aim of the History of Science is to present the historical setting, concepts, methods, triumphs, and problems of astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry as they developed after the Copernican revolution. Passing reference will be made to the ancients, but the focus is on the modern age of empirical science. Applications in engineering, industry, and medicine will be treated in principle. Large-scale implications in cosmology, molecular biology, and unified field theories will be traced to the extent necessary to help the student see the links in the sciences and gather the resources for teaching. "Science" is understood as demonstrable and experimental knowledge available to all educated people. No prerequisites. Course meets one of the four science distribution requirements for teacher certification. Po 220, 221 Comparative Politics I and II Comparative Politics is an alternative approach to international relations. This two-term course will present the comparative method, discuss issues of political socialization, interest groups, parties, and policy making, then turn to a close study of politics in England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, China, India, Nigeria, and Mexico. We will aim at a deeper understanding than is usually conveyed by international news, and we will in effect prepare ourselves for prolonged residence or travel in the other countries. International students especially are welcome. Ma 350/Hi 450 History of Mathematics Mathematics is the language of science. Its root meaning is "what can be learned," and it is simply clear thinking. There is no reason for students to fear mathematics. We approach it as a liberal art -- the art of learning, complementary to language -- the art of expression. We will cover the great turning points of mathematics, such as Euclidean geometry, Ptolemaic astronomy, Indian numerals, Arabic algebra, Cartesian coordinate geometry, Galilean functions, Newtonian mechanics and calculus, wave equations, Riemann's non-Euclidean geometry, and some statistics and probability. Exercises will be required; we will "do math" in order to understand it. Educated people should know enough math to understand Einstein's equation for the equivalence of matter and energy and Schroedinger's equation for the wave nature of the electron. Science today is poised for revolutionary changes. As Sir James Jeans once said after the rise of quantum mechanics and relativity, "The more science progresses, the less the universe looks like a clock, and the more it looks like a thought." We hope this course will help to cross the divide between C.P. Snow's "two cultures" -- the humanities and the sciences. Offered as a joint History Department and Math Department course. History of Mandalas http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/history/mandalas/ This web site presents an illustrated exhibit of mandalas drawn from the world religions, psychology, mathematics, and science. Mandalas were originally made in Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism, now they are used ecumenically all over the globe in spiritual, mathematical, psychological, and artistic endeavors to guide people to self-consciousness. "The more science progresses," wrote Sir James Jeans of relativity and quantum mechanics, "the less the universe looks like a clock, and the more it looks like a thought" (The Mysterious Universe, 1930). A mandala is a thought of the whole, in the shape of the orb of the sun or moon. It is a circular form with a spiritual content. Carl Jung regarded the mandala as an archetype of the mind. This series of mandalas aims to exhibit the unity of religion and of science.
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