The Scientific Worldview
Syllabus, Bachelor's level, 1FA537
- Code
- 1FA537
- Education cycle
- First cycle
- Grading system
- Fail (U), Pass (3), Pass with credit (4), Pass with distinction (5)
- Finalised by
- The Faculty Board of Science and Technology, 1 February 2022
- Responsible department
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
Entry requirements
90 credits in science/engineering
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course the student shall be able to:
- account for scientific methods, their strength and limitations
- orally and in written form argue for the student's personal worldview, and its relation to science
- constructively discuss scientific questions
- relate black holes, life, intelligence, time, space, consciousness, evolution, logic, chaos and order to the scientific worldview
Content
The frontiers of science and open questions in cosmology, astronomy, planet Earth, the origin of life, human evolution, and conciousness. Scientific methods, their strength and limitations: theory, measurements and experiments, modeling, intersubjectivity and falsifiability.
Instruction
Lectures and seminars.
Assessment
Hand-in assignments and active participation in seminars (2 credits). Essay (3 credits).
If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.