English

This seminar engages students in a close reading and discussion of a selection of key texts in which Plotinus addresses problems surrounding his understanding of love. The main focus of this seminar is on Plotinus treatise Ennead 3.5, dedicated to the topic of love, which includes his interpretation of central parts of Plato’s Symposium. This seminar begins by looking at some central texts by Plato on love, esp. the speech by Diotima in the Symposium. No knowledge of Greek is required.  Students are reading all texts in English translation, but occasionally the Greek text is discussed.

The course introduces the fundamental conceptual aspects of the study of human behavior that have informed the applications of the science of behavior change. Behavioral principles are essential to understanding all aspects of "what humans do" and why they behave in such ways. The number of therapeutic approaches and interventions which have been researched and developed from the science of behavior analysis has rapidly expanded especially in recent decades. Such behavioral interventions have impacted significantly across a wide range of clinical issues including for example: child development and behavioral/emotional difficulties, individuals living with brain injury, people living with dementia, the assessment and treatment of self-injurious behavior and other challenging behaviors, accelerated educational outcomes, and best practice in treatment for children with neurodevelopmental and related conditions. The course content is designed to provide an introduction to the impact and scope of behavior analysis as a "helping profession" across contexts and populations.

This course examines the phenomenon of ‘globalization’ in relation to language and communication. It looks at the constant tension between language, languages and languaging as we negotiate similarities and differences in a global setting – by examining relevant notions such as monolingualism, multilingualism (semilingualism, fake multilingualism, parallel monolingualism, multiple language ontologies), universal language, lingua franca, translation and translatability, translingualism (polylingualism, translanguaging, etc.), and exploring global issues such as the digitalization/technologization of language and literacy, language commodification, as well as the topic of global English(es).

This course exposes students to many different facets of the Black lived experience, thereby encouraging the development of a more informed, nuanced perspective. Critical engagement with topics such as the history of the Black diaspora, debates surrounding the decolonization of the curriculum, the soft colonialism of Irish religious aid, and social justice movements encourages a global perspective among students and enable them to act on the basis of this knowledge and understanding.

This course examines the philosophical and spiritual roots, cultural influences and scientific studies of contemplative practices adopted in modern societies. Beginning with the introduction of the history and theory of contemplative practice and followed by the
scientific description of the impact on the mind-body connections developed through these practices, students will be guided to critically review the relationship of contemplative practices with four major themes: personal awareness and health, relational well-being with others, and the collective well-being in and across our societies. 

This course targets students specializing in animal science and animal production. The specific components addressed include the dairy enterprise/industry at farm, national, and international level - current position and future trends; sustainable production systems and environmental constraints on production; seasonality of production, product quality, and implications for processing and marketing; principles of dairy production and management practices as they relate to sustainable production systems, especially in relation to nutrition/feeding, breeding, reproduction; principles of disease control in dairy production systems with the main emphasis being on good practice in relation to disinfection, immunology, and animal care and welfare; and costs and returns and factors affecting profitability.

This course focuses on the The European Union (EU) and how the EU is often accused of suffering from a ‘democratic deficit’.  Students examine how part of this argument is rooted in a notion that the EU is not visible enough in media, and that because of this, European citizens do not have enough information about what the EU does and how it functions to form informed opinions about EU policies and the EU as a system. The course also examines the problematic way in which the EU is presented, with a tendency towards a national and negative focus on European issues. Such arguments about the EU’s presence in the public sphere have become all the more important as the EU has experienced increased contestation over the last decades. How is the EU portrayed and debated in traditional and social media, and how does it matter for the EU’s democratic legitimacy? Students explore these topics and questions through recent literature and analyze empirical examples from different types of media.

In September 2023, 74 works from the 16th to 19th centuries from the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art were brought to Berlin from Ukraine. Since then they have been studied, conserved, re-framed, and prepared for an exhibition starting in January 2025. In January, the Gemäldegalerie will exhibit the paintings removed from Odessa and put them in dialogue with the existing collection in Berlin. This seminar is devoted to the study of the paintings from Odessa and to the consideration of comparable paintings in Berlin, taking advantage of the juxtaposition of the two collections. It reflects upon the fate of works of art during times of war, considering the impact upon artistic and cultural heritage in the Ukraine since the Russian war of aggression. The history of the dispersal of works of art in Berlin in the 20th century provides a comparative history. The exhibition brings to the forefront works of art by important artists that were previously little-known and little-studied: Francesco Granacci, Frans Hals, Bernardo Strozzi, and others.

This course examines intelligent agents, search algorithms, knowledge representation, machine learning, and probabilistic reasoning.

This course examines the art of writing about Hong Kong. Through the use of writing prompts, it introduces students to the different ways of writing about different social and physical environments in Hong Kong. Students will be able to discuss and articulate the feelings, thoughts and experiences evoked by these social and physical environments. They will be able to consider issues such as genre, gender and language use in relation to readership.