IDST 120.001 – Triple-I: Myths, Moons, and Methods: Changing Worldviews in Astronomy*

Instructors: Marc Lange (PHIL), Fabian Heitsch (PHYS), and James Rives (CLAS). PHIL TA: Yifan Li. This course meets MWF 10:10 – 11:00 a.m. in HM 100.

*This course is scheduled and controlled by The Office of Undergraduate Curricula (OUC). Please direct all registration questions to the OUC’s First-Year Curriculum Specialist, Ben Haven.

Astronomy is one of the oldest global enterprises of humanity. This course will focus on astronomy as it developed in the ancient Mediterranean and in early modern Europe, taking students on a voyage through time — from astronomy’s early beginnings as a means to keep calendars and as the underpinnings of mythology, to its central role during the early modern period in the development of natural sciences as we understand them today. The logical, epistemological, and conceptual foundations of early modern astronomy became the model for all future scientific research. Since astronomy lives at the intersection of mythology and language, philosophy, and natural sciences, students will encounter research methods specific to each of the three subjects. Students will acquire the logical, quantitative, and analytic skills necessary for understanding how different epochs interpreted the generation of knowledge; how their interpretations were influenced by their culture, mythology, and religion; and how science arrives at knowledge even when the empirical evidence is logically compatible with many rival theories.

This is a required First-Year Foundations course in the IDEAs in Action Curriculum.

Corequisite: IDST 120L – Data Literacy Lab