FYS: The Nature of Nature

3 Credits.

Are you curious about the natural world? How well do we understand nature? What remains to be understood? Are there common principles that can explain everything about it? Do we understand our past well enough to predict our future? In this seminar we are going to emulate the Greeks, who without the benefit of the technological and mathematical armamentarium at our disposal today, driven simply by curiosity and imagination, identified fundamental questions about the natural world that still puzzle us today. They laid the foundation for modern science, and many of their insights have stood the test of time. In this FYS we’ll examine the nature of nature by discussing deep questions about the world around us and by examining phenomena we experience in our daily lives. This FYS does not require a background in science or math! We’ll focus on big ideas. Our seminar will be organized around weekly conversations informed by all manner of sources: popular science writing, newspaper articles, fiction, poetry, and film. We might even do simple experiments (no lab or science experience necessary) that examine the logic of life. 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, have more in common than you might think.