English

Commercial enterprise plays a fundamental role in the age of globalization both domestically and internationally interacting with state authorities as well as agencies of international organizations. Since the 1990s, the rise of multinational corporations in economic scale and political influence has massively empowered their agency in international relations and thus made them indispensable transnational actors and inevitably included in the strategic calculation when geopolitical competition intensified. This course introduces and establishes an understanding of the intricate relationship between commercial enterprise and government at both international and local levels. 

This course familiarizes students with some of the debates about the nature of sex and gender as they have evolved since the publishing of Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. In this book, Beauvoir famously argued that, while women may be born the members of a distinct sex, “one is not born, but becomes a woman.” In its wake, the book’s readers were left to grapple with the question of the meaning and significance of this bold assertion. This course seeks to answer the following questions: To what extent do anatomy and biology determine one’s disposition or sexual orientation? Can we talk about “normal” female or male behavior? Is it advantageous to define women in opposition to men? How does sex relate to sexuality? Is there such a thing as sexuality to begin with?   

This course examines the principles of systematics and phylogenetics and an appreciation of current trends and controversies. Current classification theories: phenetic systematics (classifications based on overall resemblances) and cladistics (evolutionary reconstruction). The species concept. Sources of taxonomic data: morphology & anatomy, biochemistry, chemistry, molecular biology, biogeography and ethology. Causes of taxonomic complexity: environmental factors; hybridization; breeding systems. Principles of nomenclature. 

This course will guide international students to broaden their cultural horizons of the Chinese language, understand the cultural functions of the Chinese language, and the Chinese cultural spirit contained in Chinese characters, Chinese words and even Chinese grammar, and observe and understand the cultural characteristics and cultural environment of Chinese society from the perspective of Chinese language phenomena.

The principles of classical dynamics, in the Newtonian formulation, are expressed in terms of (vectorial) equations of motion. These principles are recapitulated and extended to cover systems of many particles. The laws of dynamics are then reformulated in the Lagrangian framework, in which a scalar quantity (the Lagrangian) takes center stage. The equations of motion then follow by differentiation, and can be obtained directly in terms of whatever generalized coordinates suit the problem at hand. These ideas are encapsulated in Hamilton's principle, a statement that the motion of any classical system is such as to extremise the value of a certain integral. The laws of mechanics are then obtained by a method known as the calculus of variations. As a problem-solving tool, the Lagrangian approach is especially useful in dealing with constrained systems, including (for example) rotating rigid bodies, and one aim of the course is to gain proficiency in such methods. At the same time, students examine the conceptual content of the theory, which reveals the deep connection between symmetries and conservation laws in physics. Hamilton's formulation of classical dynamics (Hamiltonian Dynamics) is introduced, and some of its consequences and applications are explored.

To enhance global awareness and employ practical and innovative approaches to solve global problems, Taiwan added “global competence” through international mobility as a criterion in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the first time in 2018. However, due to the unpredictable development of COVID-19, "local internationalization" has become an alternative to international mobility. This course features three NTU professors and administrators specializing in international affairs and higher education, as well as foreign national representatives and ambassadors, sharing insights on their countries’ unique issues and addressing global learning in times of uncertainty. The course covers topics such as education, diplomacy, economy, ecological and environmental protection, democracy, etc., and aims to advance professional and global competence in international and multicultural fields. 

The course introduces students to Chaucer's THE CANTERBURY TALES, a key text of the English middle ages and one of the most accessible yet challenging works of medieval literature in English. It explores the range of individual tales, and the social and pilgrimage frameworks, that unite the whole. Topics considered include the different narrative kinds and modes employed in the tales, the focus on issues of gender, desire and marriage, and the playful yet sophisticated reflection upon the act of storytelling itself.

This course examines the diversity in animal behavior and the means of understanding animal behavior. It examines the underlying mechanism and function of behavior, and how did a particular behavior develop and evolve. Topics include behavioral ecology; behavioral genetics; reproductive behavior; mating system; parental care; communication; foraging; learning; migration and biological rhythms; evolutionary stable strategies; sexual selection; altruism; and sociality in vertebrates and invertebrates. 

This course will provide students with an overview of astronomical research covering a wide range of topics, including the history of astronomy, the planets in our solar system, the birth, life and death of stars, black holes, galaxies, the Big Bang theory, cosmology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and space exploration. 

What is the state’s final frontier? How and why have governments around the world been vested with the authority to manage the most intimate aspects of our existence: from the food we eat to our sexual behavior? What has the impact of this encroachment been on our sense of self? Engaging with these questions from an historical perspective provides a critical lens for re-evaluating our own relationship to society and the state, as well as furnishing a context for considering the extent to which we are ever fundamentally “free” to possess our own bodies. Exploring the birth of “surveillance society” enables us to reflect upon – and challenge – the inherited assumptions which underpin our reliance on government and our aspirations for personal autonomy. This course ranges from the formation of the modern state in Europe and the techonologies it developed for managing populations, to global health surveillance and recent biomedical advances which have resulted in progressively interventionist governmental measures, with profound social, political and ethical implications. Topics include: surveillance; “medical police” and state-sponsored interventions in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe; the invention of the “population” as a collective body; colonialism and the global exportation of ideas about what is “normal”; “healthy citizens”: the coercive state and the democratization of society; and, finally, the limits of public health in the twenty-first century.