After this course, students will be able to
- Discern how physics connects to broader developments in science and culture, particularly in terms of philosophical and metaphysical themes and issues
- Make explicit which implicit philosophical and metaphysical questions, concepts, and assumptions undergird the discipline of physics
- Reflect on the way in which physics and metaphysics have traditionally been involved in mutual transformations
- Reflect on the philosophical concerns toward which contemporary physics is oriented
- Understand how issues regarding the normative power of science in general are closely related to the ongoing interplay of physics and metaphysics.
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Physics as a discipline has had, and still has a profound transformative role with respect to how we understand the world. This role is not limited to the application of physics in terms of technological prowess (e.g. nuclear power, the advent of the information age, etc.), but also transformed philosophical thought to a considerable degree. This course specifically focusses on the interplay of the scientific discipline of physics on the one hand, and philosophical worldviews on the other. As such, the course covers both historical and contemporary perspectives. With respect to the former, this course focusses on the development of physics in relation to the scientific revolution and the radical transformation involved in the mechanisation of the world. With regards to contemporary issues, this course covers issues related to the philosophy of string theory, mechanical versus organic worldviews, the relation between mathematics and nature, as well as normative implications of science.
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