English

This is the second part of my lecture series ‘Kant and the Constitution of Objectivity’.  This course deals mainly with Transcendental Dialectic. I will argue that Kant establishes a new and distinct notion of objectivity here, which is built on the insight that the objects of empirical cognition are always conditioned with respect to certain metaphysical grounding relations and provoke the idea of something that is unconditioned in this respect. Understanding how this notion of objectivity arises and why it falls short of providing us with cognition, e.g., of the self, of the world as a whole, and of God, will allow for a better understanding of Kant’s arguments against rationalist psychology, cosmology and theology. We will also deal with the object of practical reason – the good – and see in how far the objects of theoretical and practical reason are distinct and in how far they are similar.

In this course, students cover topics in human and machine inductive inference. In the first half of the course, students are exposed to the problem of induction and how the problem manifests in a range of domains such as object recognition, categorization, and learning. The focus of the course then turns to analogy and relational reasoning, areas were humans make generalizations across situations and domains with much more success and flexibility than non-human animals and conventional machine learning approaches. Students cover research in analogical reasoning as well as the development of analogical thinking and the representations that support analogy and generalization. The second half of the course focuses on computational theories of how humans and artificial (i.e., machine) systems perform induction and generalization. Students cover broadly the main approaches to representing knowledge and modelling human cognition (symbolic and connectionist models). They then cover how these approaches have been leveraged to explain human induction and learning with focus on traditional production system models, Bayesian models, neural network models, and symbolic-connectionist models.

This course introduces sociological perspectives on food and eating in everyday life, as well as key sociological concepts and theories with relevance for food and eating. It deals with topics such as the social significance of meals within the family and in institutional settings, identity and the meaning of food and meals, and food poverty. It also examines developments in meal patterns and how societal challenges such as climate change, risks, and health (including body weight management) are dealt with in ordinary food practices. Parallel to the focus on social aspects of food and eating, the course introduces theories of social practices and human action and key sociological concepts such as inequality, stigma, social class, gender, age, and social inclusions and exclusions.

This course introduces the history of political thought and state-building in the Middle East from the end of the Ottoman empire (1923) to present days. From the creation of the “Middle East” area by British and French mandatory administrations, this course analyzes how various political ideologies (Kemalism, Zionism, Nasserism, Khomeynism, Ba'athism, and Islamism) have influenced state-building processes in Iran, Turkey, Israel, and in the Near East. By providing methodology and tools based on historical sources, this course addresses the spread of nationalism in the Middle East to encourage a reflection on a question raised by Henry Laurens in 2019: will the 21st century witness the “end of the Middle East?”

This course provides an overview of fisheries science. It focuses on the fundamentals of fisheries science as it relates broadly to marine biology, from molecules to ecosystems. The course is divided into two sections: Topics on Marine Ecology and Oceanography, and Topics on Physiology, Biochemistry and Genetics of Aquatic organisms.

Old English was the language spoken and preserved in written texts up to the mid-eleventh century CE in the regions of the British Isles. It developed from the languages spoken by Germanic peoples coming to Britain from the continental mainland and presents the earliest precursor of Modern English. In this course, we will focus on Old English texts written in verse, exploring their themes, styles, meanings, and the challenges of dealing with a language surviving only in a small number of often unique and damaged manuscripts. Texts we will be reading include heroic poetry, such as Beowulf, elegies, as well as Old English versions of Biblical texts. The focus of our readings will be on the question of how such texts portray concepts of gender, how they construct but also deconstruct gender roles, and how they relate to gender theory in the 21st century. Students will be introduced to the grammar and pronunciation of Old English and will use their knowledge to work with the original texts alongside Modern English translations.

This course examines environmental history worldwide. Through selected topics, it explores how human society and technology have shaped the environment through centuries, emphasizing the major changes of the past hundred years. As part of the methodology, Barbados will be examined as a microcosm of the global concern with human impact in the environment. 

This course examines the fundamental concepts of data analytics and AI, and their practical applications in healthcare. It covers key concepts in data analytics and AI techniques, ethical considerations in health data analytics and AI, and how their use impacts society: from the patient, to the doctor, to the broader community. 

During the Viking Age, Northmen streamed out of Scandinavia, travelling far and wide across and around Europe, and to Constantinople and the Caspian Sea in the east. A vast amount of diverse source material, written and archaeological, bears witness to the Scandinavian expansion and conveys a multitude of roles in which they engaged, e.g. terrifying raiders, peaceful traders, or mercenaries.

The objective of this course is to examine the geographical expansion of vikings, and their interrelations with different cultures, and how this comes across in the source material. At the end of the course students are expected to have a thorough overview of the main events of the period, and a good idea on the relevant geographies and cultures, as well as a grasp on comparing different viking communities in different regions.

This course studies fundamental biology and problems of medicine, medical treatments, and environments.

Society is currently flooded with too much information about health, disease, exercise, nutrition, and how humans should behave to be healthy. This course is designed to develop one’s knowledge of the human body and to help one gain a scientific view of what health really means. The program focuses on the different biomolecules, cells, and systems that work together to keep one alive and healthy.  Instead of using medical jargon, the instructor will illustrate core concepts of physiology and biochemistry in “lay terms” throughout the course.