Science News - September 26,, 2009

What Does Western Philosophy Owe to Mathematics?

Throughout history, mathematics has helped determine the course of Western intellectual thought, influencing views on human nature, truth, time, and more. Join award-winning Professor Judith V. Grabiner and discover the profound ways mathematics has shaped philosophy with the 36 lectures of

Mathematics, Philosophy, and the “Real World”

Taught by Professor Judith V. Grabiner, Pitzer College

Lecture Titles

1. What’s It All About?

19. Plato’s Meno—

2. You Bet Your Life—

How Learning Is Possible

Statistics and Medicine

20. Plato’s Meno—

Mathematics, Philosophy, and the “Real World.”

3. You Bet Your Life—

Reasoning and Knowledge

Cost-Benefit Analysis

21. More Euclidean Proofs, Direct

Examine how Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry guided the views of Plato, Descartes, Einstein, and other philosophers. Also, learn how fundamental ideas in probability and statistics are used to understand our surroundings. Whether you’re interested in mathematics or philosophy, this course is essential to completing your grasp of both exciting fields.

4. Popular Statistics—

and Indirect

Averages and Base Rates

22. Descartes—Method and Mathematics

5. Popular Statistics—Graphs

23. Spinoza and Jefferson

6. Popular Statistics—

24. Consensus and Optimism in the

Polling and Sampling

18th Century

7. The Birth of Social Statistics

25. Euclid—Parallels, Without Postulate 5

8. Probability, Multiplication,

26. Euclid—Parallels, Needing Postulate 5

and Permutations

27. Kant, Causality, and Metaphysics

9. Combinations and Probability Graphs

28. Kant’s Theory of Space and Time

10. Probability, Determinism,

29. Euclidean Space, Perspective, and Art

This course is one of The Great Courses®, a noncredit recorded college lecture series from The Teaching Company®. Award-winning professors of a wide array of subjects in the sciences and the liberal arts have made more than 300 college-level courses that are available now on our website.