LST 255 - Beauty, Infinity and Knowledge

An interdisciplinary examination of the origins of Western science. By investigating Renaissance and early modern transformations in art, religion, and philosophy, students trace the emergence of the modern secular and scientific worldview in such thinkers as Meister Eckhart, Nicolas of Cusa, Copernicus, and Galileo. The course also examines scientific method as evident in famous experiments. The investigation is guided throughout by interrelations between aesthetic categories of beauty and elegance on the one hand and scientific structures of rigorous experimentation on the other. Satisfies the Aesthetic Awareness and Creative Expression General Education requirement.

(Cr: 3)