Lund University

The course reviews the shaping of Swedish industrial culture and society from 1800 to 2000. The topics addressed include the transformation of the agricultural production system and the development of an infrastructure for transport, communications, and power transmission. The significance of technical change for the transformation of Sweden from a poor country to an industrialized and democratic society with a well-developed welfare state, Sweden's military-industrial complex, and the concept of the Swedish model are analyzed in the course.

This course teaches basic computational methods for solving simple and common mathematical problems through computers and numerical software. This includes the construction, application, and analysis of basic computational algorithms. Mathematical models are often written as systems of linear and nonlinear equations and differential equations. Students discretize such equations by constructing computable approximations, and are expected to implement and apply such algorithms independently.

The course presents basic optimization theory, and gives an overview of the most important methods and their practical use.

The course focuses on international and global environmental issues related to sustainable development. Lectures and seminars present the issues through selected literature. The course covers the concept of sustainable development, environmental history, climate change, environmental impacts in connection with the use of natural resources, and energy issues. The course also discusses consumption patterns and the environment, environmental economics, the role of international institutions, policy making, and cultural and ethical aspects on environment.

This course examines Scandinavian design from the 20th century to the present, in light of the international development of design during this period. The growth of modern design in Scandinavia is discussed in relation to early modernist and contemporary design. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to give an overview (from an international perspective) of key events in the history of design in Scandinavia from the past century, describe and characterize objects of Scandinavian design from the past century, and give a global comparative overview of the current place Scandinavian design has in society with regard to the balance of power, gender, ethnicity, and diversity.

The course is an introduction to the central topics of the philosophy of language seen from a global, multilingual perspective. It focuses on the commonalities of the natural languages that allow them to generate meaningful expressions, to be about things in the world, and to influence and be influenced by what we think. Topics addressed in the course include the nature of meaning and reference, whether there is a universal language of thought, how language influences thought, if translation is really possible, whether we can have private languages, and how the languages of animals and machines relate to ours.