Perceptions of the Cosmos

INTD 321

In the past four hundred years, peoples' understanding of the physical universe has undergone significant changes. Most striking have been those which occurred during the first few decades of the Twentieth Century. Unfortunately, the nature of these changes and their implications are not generally understood. Most people even today still use pre-Newtonian concepts (those originating with Aristotle and used by nearly everyone prior to the latter 1600's) when they think about the behavior of the physical world. Since we now live in an age when the application of the newly developed knowledge is changing significantly our patterns of living, it seems important to provide an opportunity for students to examine carefully the changes in basic knowledge which have occurred.

An introductory course in physics normally presents physics theory as practiced by a physicist. The student is expected to be able to work numerous problems but is not confronted with the world view from which the theory comes. In an introductory philosophy course which deals with science, questions of human meaning and the significance of science together with examinations of the sense in which science expresses the way the world "really is" may be presented. Students are not asked to work with the details of physical theory which are the substance of science.

In this ID course which interrelates physics and philosophy, both detail of physical theory and the world view from which they arise and which they imply will be presented. Through the course, the classical perspective of Galileo and Newton (which was a revolutionary and hard-fought change from the Aristotelian world view that was the accepted Atruth@ for nearly 2,000 years) will be contrasted with the modern perspective of Einstein and Heisenberg. The intent is not to dwell on the technical details (important as they are), but to bring out some of the large general implications.

The time line below shows the periods of time during which the three major views of the structure and behavior of the universe were held together with the key people involved in the development of those views.

(Empedocles Galileo Michelson & Morley

490-430 BC) 1564-1642 1887

300 BC 1642 1900

Aristotle Newton Planck Einstein Heisenberg-1925

384-322 BC 1642-1727 1900 1905&1916 Schrödinger-1926

Aristotelian World View Newtonian World View Contemporary World View

Aristotelian Physics Newtonian Physics Modern Physics

Classical Physics

Required text books:

Physics: Concepts and Connections, Second Edition (1999) by Art Hobson

The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

Hand-out reading material from text books no longer in print:

The Philosophical Impact of Contemporary Physics by Mili… „apek

Invitation to Physics by Ken Greider

Physics: The Fabric of Reality by S. K. Kim

INTD 321 ATTENDANCE EXPECTATION AND POLICY

The expectation is that you will attend every class session. There is no specific grade penalty for up to three class sessions missed. However, if you are absent for more than three class sessions (about 11% of the course), your grade will be reduced by one letter grade from that earned without the absences. Even if you are below the maximum for grade penalty, your grade in all probability will be affected by missed classes.

First and foremost, material and emphases are brought into the class sessions which are not in the reading assignments. The tests are worked up on the basis of what is presented in class. When an emphasis is given in class, it is an indication of where your study emphasis should be. The added material brought into the class session may appear on a test. If you have missed that in class, you probably will do poorly on that section of the test.

Secondly, in the case of a person who has missed two or three classes, there is a subtle effect which is difficult to avoid. Lack of attendance is an indication to the professor that you are not very interested in getting a lot out of the course and so not interested in getting a very good grade in the course. That is a subjective factor which shows up when the final grade is assigned. In any borderline situation, the tendency is to assign the lower grade to one who has a poor attendance record and the higher grade in the other case.

GRADING SCHEME

Input Weighting Factor