How much can we know of the world? Can we know everything? Or are there fundamental limits to how much science can explain? If there are limits, to what extent can we explain the nature of physical reality?
In this interdisciplinary course we will address these questions, exploring how philosophers and physicists from Plato to Einstein and many others have attempted to explain the nature of the world and of reality. We will follow a historical approach, reading as many original sources as possible and focusing on three central themes:
The nature of the cosmos: from a closed cosmos to an expanding universe and the multiverse;
The nature of matter: from alchemy to quarks and quantum physics;
The nature of mind: Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, mathematics, computers, and the problem of consciousness.
The main text will be The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning, by Marcelo Gleiser (Basic Books, Spring 2014). This will be complemented by original and critical texts by Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, John Bell, David Bohm, Rebecca Goldstein, Thomas Nagel, Colin McGinn, and others.
Exclusive course with limited attendance.
Meet the Professor
Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College, a world-renowned theoretical physicist and public intellectual. He’s authored hundreds of technical and nontechnical papers and essays, and seven books in English translated to 18 languages. His writings explore the historical, religious, and philosophical roots of science, past and modern. Gleiser is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a recipient of the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, and founder and past director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth. He co-founded National Public Radio’s 13.7 Science and Culture blog, and currently writes weekly for BigThink.com. He is the 2019 Templeton Prize laureate, an honor he shares with Mother Tereza, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and scientists Freeman Dyson, Jane Goodall, Sir Martin Rees, and Frank Wilczek.