This class examines the question of uncertainty. We are particularly interested considering the relationship between uncertainty and the making of ethical choices. The title reflects the variety of materials used in the course: film, music, and written text. In the first part of the class we will look at the improvisation of musicians, the choices lovers make, and the decisions of men at war in order to better appreciate how people act without knowing the basis or the consequences of their actions. In the second part of the class we will focus on how the expansion of scientific knowledge has opened up unprecedented forms of possible action governed by uncertainty, with a particular focus on biotechnology. Students will read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein throughout the course.

Part One
1. The Quest for Certainty
2. Art, Love and War

Part Two
3. Towards a Post-Human Future?

Bibliography Arendt, Responsibility and Judgment, 2003 Dewey, The Quest for Certainty, 1929 Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1981 Frayn, Copenhagen, 1998 Fukuyama, Our Posthuman Future, 2002 Kahn, A Love Supreme, The Creation of John Coltrane’s Classic Album, Kind of Blue, The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, 2000 Kennedy, Thirteen Days, 1968 Rifkin, The Biotech Century, 1998 Filmography Donaldson, Thirteen Days, 2000 Kasdan, Body Heat, 1981 Morris, The Fog of War, 2003 Reiner, When Harry Met Sally,1989 Scott, Thelma and Louise, 1991 Discography Coltrane, A Love Supreme, 1966 Davis, Kind of Blue, 1959 Each member of the class will prepare a written presentation and help lead the discussion of one class.

Dernière mise à jour : mercredi 28 mars 2012