Data scientists answer questions with scientific and social relevance using statistical theory and computation. We will discuss elementary topics in statistics and learn how to write code (in Python) to visualize data and perform simulations. We will use these tools to answer questions about real data sets. We will also explore ethical issues faced by data scientists today.

Data scientists answer questions with scientific and social relevance using statistical theory and computation. We will discuss elementary topics in statistics and learn how to write code (in Python) to visualize data and perform simulations. We will use these tools to answer questions about real data sets. We will also explore ethical issues faced by data scientists today.

This course examines translation as a mode of cultural transmission, creativity, and theoretical inquiry for Jewish literature and thought. Topics include: translation as a means of mediating access to the sacred; women's roles as readers and creators of translations; enduring debates about what may be "lost" in translation; and whether translation into "Global English" helps or hurts the survival of literatures in Yiddish, Ladino, and other minoritized languages.

Cognitive psychologists investigate the features and functions of the human mind through behavioral techniques; neuroscientists explore the physiology of the human brain. Cognitive Neuroscience lies at the intersection of these disciplines, and asks questions like: How are memories represented in the brain? Is our brain pre-prepared to learn language and if so, how? How does the average human brain still outperform most face recognition software? This course explores the cognitive and neural processes that support vision, attention, language, memory, and music.

What kind of life should a person live? What can we know about the world? What is the nature of the self? What is the value of the arts? The aim of the course is to learn how to do philosophy by engaging with the answers that philosophers from different periods of history and around the globe give to these and similar questions. We will read historical texts from African, Chinese, European, Native American, and South Asian philosophical traditions, as well as contemporary texts by a variety of living philosophers.

This course explores the complex, often comic, and ultimately tragic history of Bohemia, a territory located today in the Czech Republic, but previously a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, then of Czechoslovakia, and then of Hitler's Third Reich. Students will complement historical studies with autobiographical material and contemporary fiction, beginning with the Revolution of 1848, progressing through the achievements and worrisome trends of Emperor Francis Joseph's 68-year reign, and concluding with the world wars.

This course cultivates sound reasoning. Students will learn to see the structure of claims and arguments and to use those structures in developing strong arguments and exposing shoddy ones. We will learn to evaluate arguments on the strength of the reasoning rather than on the force of their associations and buzzwords.

Contemporary medicine gives rise to a variety of moral and philosophical questions. What moral duties do we have to those at the beginning of life? How should we approach to euthanasia? Should we be worried about the growth of technology in medicine? Should public health be prioritized over an individual's autonomy regarding their own body? How should limited health care resources be distributed? The goals of this course are to improve our understanding of the best arguments on different sides of these questions.

Humans could simply view nature as a repository of material resources for our use. Many would argue that this is the primary perspective of modern society. And yet mythology, history, and science show that there is a much deeper connection to the natural world -- one that provides spiritual and psychological sustenance as well as multiple forms of physical support. In this first-year seminar, we will explore the human bond to nature through readings from a wide variety of sources and disciplines, and also through short field trips out into the local landscape.

An introduction to Chinese thought during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (roughly 770-256 BCE), a time of remarkable philosophical growth and controversy. We read the works of this era's most influential philosophers, including: Kongzi (Confucius), Mozi, Laozi, Mengzi (Mencius), Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi. Topics discussed include: What makes for a just ruler? What kind of life should we live? What is our relationship to nature? We work to understand each philosopher's responses to these questions, but we also learn to develop our own answers.