Free University of Berlin

This course explores the relationship between aesthetic trends and technological developments with the focus on the cultural and economic conditions in Berlin. Particular emphasis is made on the past and present of techno, (experimental) electronica, and electronic dance music. What makes Berlin a magnet not only for thrill-seeking club-goers, but also for DJs, musicians, producers, and developers? How does this relate to the recent past of Berlin since the fall of the Berlin Wall, especially given the gentrification processes? To what extent is Berlin's creative scene at the same time internationally networked and can its conditions only be understood in a global context? Beyond the Berlin perspective, the course examines the current conditions of production and consumption as well as the performance and distribution of music. How do legal/illegal file sharing and streaming services affect listening to music? What is changing in music culture through sampling, remixing, mashup, and approaches to interactive music in video games? What opposing trends are out there? And last but not least: To what extent has the time of the pandemic in 2020/21 changed the conditions of production, distribution, and consumption of music – in Berlin and globally? In addition to the joint discussion of texts and film excerpts, excursions also provide an opportunity for an exchange with proven experts in the course subject areas. At the end of the course, the participants can elaborate on and present a topic (either alone or in a group) of their choice in the context of the general list of topics on the course.

This course discusses topics including database design with ERM/ERDD; theoretical foundations of relational database systems: relational algebra, functional dependencies, and normal forms; relational database development: SQL data definitions, foreign keys and other integrity constraints, and SQL as applicable language: essential language elements, and embedding in programming language; application programming, and object-relational mapping; security and protection concepts; transaction subject, transactional guaranties, synchronization of multi user operations, and fault tolerance features; and application and new developments: data warehousing, data mining, and OLAP. The topics are deepened in an implementation project for student groups.

This course discusses the development of German philosophy in the 19th century and its historical tragedy in the 20th century. This includes a discussion of the links between Marx and Marxism, between Nietzsche and the German political/ideological right-wing, between the Vienna Circle and the scientific revolution of the early twentieth century, as well as between German academic philosophy and Nazism. The course has a tripartite structure, which is loosely modeled on Heribert Boeder’s account in his DAS VERNUNFTGEFÜGE DER MODERNE (Freiburg 1988). The course begins by acknowledging that, after Hegel, philosophy has no longer been pursued as a unified whole but as a reflection on specific strands of thinking. A first strand of reflecting the "essence" of human being runs from Karl Marx (The Work of Human Being) over Friedrich Nietzsche (The Values of Human Being) to Martin Heidegger (The World of Human Being), a second strand of reflecting the sciences starts with Gottlob Frege (The Language of the Sciences), goes on to Moritz Schlick (The World of the Sciences) and ends with Michael Polanyi (The History of the Sciences). The third strand reflects the interpreted life, starting with Wilhelm Dilthey (The History of Interpreted Life), continuing with Edmund Husserl (The World of Interpreted Life) and concluding with Ludwig Wittgenstein (The Language of Interpreted Life). These three strands with their interconnections reveal a unity of philosophy that differs from the common but unhelpful distinction between continental and analytic approaches. Thinkers of all three strands proclaimed to end philosophy. However, like all arts and sciences in Germany, philosophy took part in paving the way for totalitarian ideologies and thus has to consider its role in the ‘immoral end’ of the 20th century. The course concludes with a more confident outlook. Like a phoenix from the ashes, philosophy has risen again in an unexpected form. The course ends with Jürgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, who in their late dialogue nearly come to an agreement.