Books, Authors, Ideas, Discussion!
Aristotle, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Bacon, Smith, Darwin, Popper, Freud, Heisenberg, Anscombe, Einstein, Bohr, and many more...
Welcome to the home page of the Science Conversation
What is the Science Conversation?
The Science Conversation is a general education program for sophomores, designed around an interdisciplinary exploration of science. Students who complete the yearlong program will earn HWC, BTS-T, HBS, SED or IST, and WRI general education credits. It is intended to attract a wide audience for rich, interdisciplinary discussions. We are currently seeking applications from a broad mix of students, from art appreciators to book lovers to science fans.
The Science Conversation brings together students and faculty with a broad range of academic interests for a critical exploration of science within its historical, cultural, and social contexts. The program will encourage a philosophically and theologically informed appreciation for the development of science, the relationship between reason and faith, questions of meaning and purpose, and the complex interplay of science and society. It is designed to illuminate the distinctive character of science and its relevance to the challenges facing our world.
This yearlong program for a cohort of 24 sophomores consists of three courses (fall, interim, and spring) and follows a ‘great books’ approach with seminar-style discussions. Primary texts by influential figures are read alongside secondary sources for analysis and overview. During the interim, students and faculty will make science come alive by performing hands-on laboratory experiments while considering their intellectual and historical significance. In a broader sense, the Science Conversation seeks to help reunite the sciences and humanities, viewing the scientific enterprise in the context of the liberal arts.
First-year students, please join the Science Con in the 2012-2013 academic year!
APPLICATION DEADLINE is noon, Monday March 4, 2013.
Read what one student had to say about the pilot course offered in the fall of 2008:
“If it is anything like the pilot course, the Science Conversation will be one of those few programs that truly change lives…What’s fun is having very intelligent scientists, philosophers, and theologians in one room and discussing topics like God and the incompleteness or completeness of science…”
