FALL 2013 Honors Program Courses
Please see the Class Schedule for the current semester’s offerings. A brief description of the honors courses for the coming semester is given below.
BIBLE
Introduction to Bible 1000H
Professor Jeremy Wieder
Tu 1:05 - 2:45
The course explores the origin of the Biblical text through the lenses of Rabbinic Judaism (from Rabbinic literature to the work of the Tiberian Masoretes and subsequent discussion in medieval Rabbinic literature), as well as surveying the historical context(s) in which the Bible was written and the impact of that context on the interpretation of the Bible. We will also survey the history of Jewish Biblical Interpretation beginning in the Classical period (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Talmud, Midrash) and going through the medieval period (Rashi, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, Kimchi.)
Kings 2160H
Professor Ari Mermelstein
Tu 1:05 - 2:45
We will focus on a
selection of chapters in ספר מלכים, approaching them from
a few overarching interpretive frameworks, including the following:
(1) Literature/Biblical
Historiography. This category is concerned with the literary nature of our
book. What is the nature of biblical historiography? What ideological
assumptions permeate the text, and how is Kings unique in this regard? What
literary techniques does the author utilize to communicate his ideology within
the historical narrative? We will approach these issues through careful
analysis of the text itself.
(2) Historical Context. Knowledge of the ancient context of the Bible
is often vital to an understanding of the simple meaning of the text. We will explore how modern advances in
knowledge about the material culture, geography, history, and languages of the
Ancient Near Eastern world can illuminate our understanding of the simple
meaning of the text of Kings.
(3) Philology. Finally, there will be a focus on the most
fundamental way of deriving meaning from the biblical text—close attention to
Hebrew grammar and language. At nearly
every class meeting, students will be expected to be prepared to read and
translate (with justification) the text selected for that session.
BIOLOGY
Honors Biochemistry 1376H (crosslisted with CHE)
Professor James LeBard
T-Th 6:45 - 8:00
"Molecular biochemistry covers the biological aspects of cellular structure, metabolism, regulation, and replication from a chemist's perspective. The topics will range from the the sequence of nucleic acids that give rise to functional proteins, to the bioenergetic aspects of oxidative phosphorylation involved in cellular respiration. Particular emphasis will be paid to "hot topics" in modern biochemistry including protein-ligand interactions, DNA polymerization, membrane transport, as well as atomistic simulations of fast-folding proteins.
The majority of the lecture material will be taken from the textbook. However, biochemistry is a lively and dynamic field, so periodic lectures will cover advanced topics in biochemistry from work recently published in peer-reviewed journals. This reading material will be posted on the course website prior to the lecture, and students are expected to familiarize themselves with knowledge of these emerging biochemical techniques.
Students will be assigned a final project involving the analysis of a large-scale atomistic simulation of a protein folding, one of the most basic and fundamental processes in biochemistry. This project promotes group-based learning, which is typical of modern biochemical research."
Topics: Stem Cells 4934H
Professor Yakov Peter
W 6:45 - 8:25
Topics in Stem Cells offers a careful look at contemporary breakthroughs in stem cell research as reported in the scientific literature. Through these findings, students will be introduced to cutting-edge molecular and cellular research methods and versed in the interpretation of scientific data. Areas to be covered in this course include: embryonic stem cells and cloning, somatic and hematopoietic stem cells, and induced pluripotental stem cells and cellular reprogramming. The final portion of this course deals with ethics and legislation.
CHEMISTRY
Honors Biochemistry 1376H (crosslisted with BIO)
Professor James LeBard
T-Th 6:45 - 8:00
"Molecular biochemistry covers the biological aspects of cellular structure, metabolism, regulation, and replication from a chemist's perspective. The topics will range from the the sequence of nucleic acids that give rise to functional proteins, to the bioenergetic aspects of oxidative phosphorylation involved in cellular respiration. Particular emphasis will be paid to "hot topics" in modern biochemistry including protein-ligand interactions, DNA polymerization, membrane transport, as well as atomistic simulations of fast-folding proteins.
The majority of the lecture material will be taken from the textbook. However, biochemistry is a lively and dynamic field, so periodic lectures will cover advanced topics in biochemistry from work recently published in peer-reviewed journals. This reading material will be posted on the course website prior to the lecture, and students are expected to familiarize themselves with knowledge of these emerging biochemical techniques.
Students will be assigned a final project involving the analysis of a large-scale atomistic simulation of a protein folding, one of the most basic and fundamental processes in biochemistry. This project promotes group-based learning, which is typical of modern biochemical research."
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CULTURES
Diaspora Literature 1002H
Professor Elizabeth Stewart
F 9:30-12:00
Diaspora: (from Greek διασπορά, "scattering, dispersion") is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location," or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands."
In this course we study the literatures of the 20th and 21st
centuries that share the legacy of massive historical dispersals of
peoples, the dissemination of their respective cultures, and their
encounters with other cultures--in particular African, Asian, and Jewish
diasporic literature, with an emphasis on American “minor” literatures
(Asian American, African American, Jewish American). We study not only
the global movements of people, but the border crossings of goods,
ideas, cultural practices as well. Our studies focus on border
areas--borders and borderlands, interculturalism, cultural
hybridity--some within the context of the conquests, violence, and
inequalities of colonialism together with the political and cultural
exhilarations of post-colonial independence and cultural renewal, and
others within the context of the migrations that have culminated in our
21st century globalized world. Historically, we follow the dizzying
pathways of globalization since WWII as well as the civilizational
clashes and mixings which have taken us to fatwas, jihad, and the War on
Terror, but also to the marvels of cosmopolitan conviviality in such
fantastic multicultural cities like New York City and London.
The course offers historically and literarily grounded
introductions to those categories that order our lives and identities:
culture, "race," nationality, and gender, as well as the historical metamorphoses
of cultural, racial, national, religious, and gendered identities.
Moreover, the course examines, within migratory and diasporic
experiences, the role of language, memory, and psychology: the
experiences, expressions, and enactments of loss, nostalgia,
melancholia, aggression, and exhilaration.
CULTURES OVER TIME
Classical to Renaissance 1004H
Professor Richard L. Nochimson
T-Th 3:00 - 4:15
The
culture that produced the great literary works of ancient and classical
Greece and the culture that produced the great literary works of the
European Renaissance have been stimulating critical and literary
responses for centuries. This course will examine those two cultures
through study of three representative authors from each, considering
those authors’ works both as independent entities and in their cultural
contexts, and considering the works from the two cultures in relation to
each other. It will aim to provide the student the opportunity to
think not only like a literary critic but also like a psychologist, a
philosopher, a cultural historian, a theologian, an anthropologist. The
authors included will be Homer, Sophocles, Plato, Montaigne,
Shakespeare, and Cervantes.
For
this course, students will be reading some of the foundational texts of
Western literature. Students will seek to understand the ways in which
the creators of those works, writing in different forms, sought to
pursue and express the truth and communicate with their readers. This
is a discussion course. Attendance and participation are essential.
This course fulfills the Cultures Over Time Requirement.
ECONOMICS
Game Theory 1177H
Professor Michael Richter
T- Th 3:00-4:15
Development
of models of rational behavior in interactive situations through the
theory of non-cooperative, cooperative, and evolutionary games. Game
theory is used for decisions and strategy whenever people interact to
strike mutually agreeable deals or to resolve conflicts in such diverse
fields as international relations, economics, business, politics,
psychology, philosophy, or even evolutionary biology.
Different wealth of nations 4931H (crosslisted with PHI)
Professor James Otteson
M-W 3:00 - 4:15
This
course takes its name from Adam Smith’s famous 1776 Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and the course material is
inspired by some of the concerns of Smith’s book—but with a bit of a
twist. We shall investigate the question of how wealth is created, but
we shall also investigate why some places are so much wealthier than
others and why the great explosion in wealth happened where and when it
did. These issues could hardly be more important: If we can come to some
understanding of the forces at work in creating wealth, we might have
hope of developing strategies to aid those who currently have relatively
little.
In
the course of our study, we shall consider some important historical
treatments, and then we shall turn our focus to reviewing contemporary
explanations and their critics. Our readings and discussions will range
over history, psychology, geography, economics, politics, and cultural
anthropology.
The
overall goals of the course include gaining a familiarity with the
current state of thought on wealth-creation, globalization, and economic
development, as well as developing tentative positions on what the
institutions are that encourage human prosperity and flourishing. It is
especially designed for students who are considering post-graduate study
of the issues involved.
ENGLISH
Writing About Medicine & Illness 1660H
Professor Jacob Appel
Th 6:45 - 9:15
“Writing
about Medicine and Illness” explores the complex ethical and
sociological questions at the heart of the caregiver-patient
relationship through both the works of established authors and through
original student writing. What does it mean to “do no harm” as a
physician? How should a patient’s wellbeing be balanced against a
patient’s wishes? Is it possible for a healthcare worker to care too much
about a patient’s welfare? What role does a patient’s own background
play in her experience of illness? Students will explore these
questions—and the timeless mysteries of birth, death and even healthcare
taxes—through the writings of such medical professionals and lay
commentators as Tolstoy, Kafka, Oates, Adrian, McCann, Hurston,
Broyard, Cainin, Ruhl, Gawande and Klass. They will use these materials
and their own life experiences to shape creative prose work—either
fiction or nonfiction—with the ultimate goals of personal understanding,
improved communication and possible publication.
Postmodern Fiction 2083H
Professor Paula Geyh
M - W 3:00 -4:15
“Memory,
History, and the Postmodern Novel"
In the age of competing “histories
from below” and from the margins, of docudramas and historiographic
metafiction, and of technologies that render historical evidence increasingly counterfeitable
and suspect, the traditional idea of history as an objective chronicle of the
past has been challenged as never before. In this course, we’ll examine how
postmodern novelists have participated in and responded to these challenges. The course is organized around two historical
events, the Holocaust and 9/11. Among
the texts we’ll be reading are: Zusak’s The
Book Thief, Sebald’s Austerlitz,
Thomas’s The White Hotel, Spiegelman’s
Maus I and II, Rushdie’s Shame, Colon’s The 9/11 Report, Hamid’s The
Reluctant Fundamentalist, and DeLillo’s Falling
Man
FIRST YEAR WRITING
Honors First Year Writing 1010H
T- Th 4:30 - 5:4
T-Th 3:00 - 4:15
M-W 4:30 - 5:45
M-W 6:45 - 8:0
M-W 3:00 - 4:15
First
Year Writing, a mandatory course for all students in Yeshiva College
and the Sy Syms School of Business, introduces students to college-level
writing and prepares them for future academic writing. Every section
of this course emphasizes writing process and revision, critical
thinking, and other fundamental writing skills, including summary,
paraphrase, analysis, synthesis, integration of multiple perspectives,
and source documentation.
Honors
sections of First Year Writing are unique in that the program's smaller
sections, available only to Honors Program students, begin at a higher
discourse level and include more demanding and complex readings.
Instructors of Honors sections work with students to develop thinking
and writing skills through a variety of assignments and activities in a
participatory, collaborative atmosphere.
HEBREW
The Portrayal of Women in Modern Hebrew Literature 2750H
Professor Samuel Schneider
T-Th 3:00 - 4:15
Modern Hebrew literature depicted various characters of
Jewish Women, from the early stages of Modern Hebrew literature (1781-1881). Hebrew literature was influenced by the major European literatures of Western
Europe—Germany, England, France and later on, also the Russian and Scandinavian
literature. The modern European
literatures dealt extensively with Gender; The relationship between “Him” and
“Her”. They tried to understand the world of the woman, her mental and
psychological world, her physical and physiological characteristics, her
aspirations and demands.
Modern Hebrew literature dealt with the same ideas and
topics but from a Jewish point of view and in the context of their habitats—the
shtetels and then the big city when urbanization took hold. When the center of
Modern Hebrew literature moved from the Diaspora to the Land of Israel, Hebrew
authors focused on the pioneering period and introduced a new image of Jewish
women; brave, strong, independent. The Israeli period of Modern Hebrew
literature provided a large, colorful spectrum of the Israeli Woman that is
equal to the man, struggles with a wide range of individual and national issues
and encounters every issue that the man encounters
HISTORY
Orthodoxy and Heresy in Islam 2303H
Professor Bella Tendler
T-Th 4:30-5:45
Course Description: Islamic history is almost always told from the orthodox Sunni perspective. However, the vast collection of Islamic heresiographical literature attests to a time when Sunni orthodoxy was not a foregone conclusion and when popular, syncretistic, and gnostic Shiite trends may just as easily have determined the course of Islam. In this seminar we will delve into the genre of Islamic heresiography (treatises on heresy) and encounter the Shiite sects whose memories are preserved within. Through in-depth readings of heresiographical and sectarian literature in translation as well as modern scholarly works, we will learn about the beliefs and practices of these groups, dubbed the ghulāt or ‘exaggerators’ because of their tendency to ‘exaggerate’ the importance of their leaders. Some doctrines we will explore include: God’s appearance in human form, the reincarnation of souls, the allegorical interpretation of the Quran and Islamic law, antinomianism, apocalypticism, and messianism. We will investigate the secret initiation rituals of these sects, their wine-drinking ceremonies, their vegetarian diets, their marital communism, and the religious syncretism that made their belief systems so compelling to their followers. We will study the social, economic, and political conditions from which these heresies emerged and some of the popular rebellions waged in their name. Finally, we will learn how these heresies were combated, suppressed, and even absorbed into what came to be Orthodox Sunni and Shiite Islam.
Course Objectives: Students will learn about the formation of orthodoxy and heresy, become familiar with early Shiite history, learn how to read a variety of medieval sources, and learn how to write the history of people who did not leave a literary record.
Course Structure: The course will be divided into four segments. In Unit One we will review early Islamic history from the neglected Shiite perspective. In Unit Two we will attempt to define the concepts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in general, as well as in the specific Islamic context. In Unit Three we will delve into the Islamic science of heresiology through extensive readings of Arabic heresiographies in translation. Unit Four will be dedicated to the sects themselves, their histories, unique beliefs and practices, and their influence on later Islamic movements.
HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Psychology of Mass Opinion 1007H
Professor Ari Malka
T-Th 3:00 - 4:15
This multidisciplinary seminar will overview social scientific research on the psychological and social processes that underlie political opinion. Students will learn about empirical research in psychology and political science dealing with the origins and consequences of mass political attitudes. Some of the major topics we will cover are psychological and survey research methodology, genetic and environmental influences on political attitudes, political thinking, public opinion and election polling, and aggregate political opinion. The course will focus heavily on empirical studies and their conclusions. It will also include a current events component in which students discuss articles and blog posts that analyze recent public opinion evidence. Students enrolled in the honors section of this course will complete additional readings and writing assignments.
INTERPRETING THE CREATIVE
Arguments 1006H
Professor David Johnson
T-Th 6:45-8:00
Arguments
are among the highest works of human creativity. In this course you
will learn how to examine and evaluate them. The arguments we consider
will concern such matters as: infinity; the existence of God; the
existence of the soul; truth; skepticism; the nature of morality; the
Schröder-Bernstein theorem; and Bell’s theorem. The technicalities which
the arguments involve will be explained. (The course begins with an
introduction to truth tables and to the probability calculus.) Nothing
is presupposed, beyond an elementary familiarity with algebra.
JEWISH HISTORY
Classical Jewish Intellectual History 1210H
Professor Moshe Bernstein
T-Th 3:00-4:15
The study of a
number of major issues in Jewish thought from the Return to Zion through the
rabbinic era. We shall investigate the
diverse ideological currents in Judaism during this critical period on a
variety of topics or themes, including (but not limited to) some of the
following: Jewish Identity/Jewish Sectarianism; Biblical Interpretation; Jewish
Law/Halakhah; Prayer; Wisdom; Eschatology and Messianism. Emphasis will be placed on readings from
primary sources (including some in Hebrew) which survive from this period,
including Bible (Tenakh), Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls,
Philo, Josephus, rabbinic literature, etc.
Virtually each of the individual topics which are taken up in the course
could be the subject of an entire course, so comprehensive coverage of each
unit is unfortunately not to be expected.
Grading is based
on written assignments of several sorts and a final examination.
The course
fulfils the portion of the Jewish History requirement at Yeshiva College that
is not defined as a survey course.
At the Edge of the Abyss: Jewish Intellectual Responses to Nazism, 1933-1940. 3470H
Professor Joshua Karlip
M-W 3:00 - 4:15
This
course will explore Jewish intellectual responses to the rise of Nazism
during the period from the rise of Hitler in 1933 to the first year of
World War Two in 1939-1940. Recent historiography has moved beyond
describing the physical destruction of European Jewry during the
Holocaust to exploring its deep crisis and collapse in the years
immediately prior to the war’s outbreak. This course will, to quote one
historian, seek to recover “the catastrophe before the Catastrophe.”
First, the course will survey the political plight of European Jewry
following on the eve of and following Hitler’s rise to power. Then, we
will analyze different Jewish intellectual reactions to the Nazi repeal
of Jewish emancipation and the spread of virulent anti-Semitism
throughout Europe. Among the topics to be discussed are as follows: the
crisis in faith in Enlightenment and modern civilization, the debate
amongst Jewish intellectuals about the legacy of Jewish emancipation;
the “return to the ghetto” debate in the Yiddish press, and differing
rabbinic responses in both Central and Eastern Europe.
JEWISH PHILOSOPHY
Ethics and War: Classical and Contemporary Interpretations 4930H
(cross-listed in PHI and POL)
Professor Shalom Carmy T-Th 3:00 - 4:15
Honors
course team taught with Prof. Adrienne Asch. Topics (some tentative)
include: what is war, how is it justified in Western philosophy and
Halakha? Religious elements in war; Self-defense; humanitarian
intervention; Courage in battle; War and the modern state system;
Terrorism; Status of non-combatants; responsibility for war crimes: How
wars begin and how they end. Focus is on philosophical literature,
Jewish sources and recent legal discussion but we will also incorporate
historical examples and developments.
Writing: Several short papers on readings + longer paper at end.
Belongs to the majors in the 3 departments listed in. For OLD Curriculum, can satisfy either Humanities or Social Science unit.
MATHEMATICS
Introduction to Analysis 5118 (video conferenced from the Beren campus)
Professor Mort Lowengrub
T-Th 3:15-4:30
Applied Differential Equations 5302 (crosslisted with PHY )
Professor Fredy Zypman
M-W 3:00 -4:15
In
this course the student becomes familiar with mathematical techniques
that appear in a variety of problems that originate in physics. Typical
problems considered come from mechanical motion, thermodynamics,
electromagnetism. Techniques include Fourier analysis, Modal analysis,
Green functions, Complex analysis, properties of Special functions.
Emphasis will be in problem solving and physical insight and thus the
approaches will be a balanced combination of analytical and
computational techniques.
Functions of a Real Variables
Prof. Marini
T-Th 6:00 - 7:15
Purpose
of the course: This is a first-year graduate course open to qualified
undergraduates. The course provides the fundamental grounding necessary
for graduate work in analysis and will account for roughly 20% of the
material covered in the comprehensive examination for the M.A. degree.
Course
description: Fundamentals of real analysis and applications;
development of the real number system; set-theoretic notions. Lebesgue
measure and integral. Metric, topological, Banach, and Hilbert spaces.
Text: Real Analysis by H. L. Royden, Macmillian, New York, 1968.
Goals
of the course: At the conclusion of the course, students will be able
to decide whether a set is Lebesgue-measurable or a function is
Lebesgue-integrable. They will understand the properties of metric,
convex, topological, Banach, and Hlbert spaces.
Assessment:
Student progress will be assessed via midterm and final examinations
and a problem set. The course will be assessed via student surveys,
occasional visits and other supervision by the Chair, and an annual
review of the course by the Consulting faculty of the M.A. program.
Course topics (tentative):
1. Set theory
2. The real number system
3. Lebesgue measure
4. The Lebesgue integral
5. Differentiation and integration
6. The classical Banach spaces
7. Metric spaces
8. Topological spaces
9. Compact spaces
10. Another view of Banach spaces
Prerequisite: Advanced Calculus II or the equivalent
PHILOSOPHY
Great Political Thinkers 3401H (crosslisted with POL )
Professor James Otteson
M-W 4:30 - 5:45
Political
philosophy begins with one fundamental question: "What kind of
government should we have?" Many questions follow from that one,
including questions about human nature, human psychology, and human
motivation; about morality and the good life; about wealth and
prosperity; about joint decision-making; and about conflict resolution.
In
this course we will survey some of the most important philosophical
investigations of these questions, focusing on the thought of some of
the great figures from the Western tradition. These will include
historical figures like Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, and Marx,
as well as more recent figures like John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
Our
goals will be to become familiar with the main arguments of these
figures, including their strengths and weaknesses, and then to develop
reasoned positions of our own.
Ethics and War: Classical and Contemporary Interpretations 4930H
(cross-listed in JPH and POL)
T-Th 3:00-4:15
Honors
course team taught with Prof. Adrienne Asch. Topics (some tentative)
include: what is war, how is it justified in Western philosophy and
Halakha? Religious elements in war; Self-defense; humanitarian
intervention; Courage in battle; War and the modern state system;
Terrorism; Status of non-combatants; responsibility for war crimes: How
wars begin and how they end. Focus is on philosophical literature,
Jewish sources and recent legal discussion but we will also incorporate
historical examples and developments.
Writing: Several short papers on readings + longer paper at end.
Belongs to the majors in the 3 departments listed in. For OLD Curriculum, can satisfy either Humanities or Social Science unit.
Different wealth of nations 4931H (crosslisted with ECO)
Professor James Otteson
M-W 3:00-4:15
This
course takes its name from Adam Smith’s famous 1776 Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and the course material is
inspired by some of the concerns of Smith’s book—but with a bit of a
twist. We shall investigate the question of how wealth is created, but
we shall also investigate why some places are so much wealthier than
others and why the great explosion in wealth happened where and when it
did. These issues could hardly be more important: If we can come to some
understanding of the forces at work in creating wealth, we might have
hope of developing strategies to aid those who currently have relatively
little.
In
the course of our study, we shall consider some important historical
treatments, and then we shall turn our focus to reviewing contemporary
explanations and their critics. Our readings and discussions will range
over history, psychology, geography, economics, politics, and cultural
anthropology.
The
overall goals of the course include gaining a familiarity with the
current state of thought on wealth-creation, globalization, and economic
development, as well as developing tentative positions on what the
institutions are that encourage human prosperity and flourishing. It is
especially designed for students who are considering post-graduate study
of the issues involved.
PHYSICS
Honors General Physics I Lecture and recitation 1041H
Prof. Neer Asherie
M-W 3:00-4:15 M 5:50-6:40 T 8:15-9:15
A
calculus-based introduction to mechanics; topics include dimensional
analysis, vectors, kinematics, Newton’s laws of motion, friction,
conservation laws (energy and momentum), gravitation and oscillations.
Introduction to Modern Physics 1120H
Professor Gabriel Cwilich
M-W 4:30 - 5:45
A
survey of the new ideas that revolutionized Physics during the first
decades of this century, emphasizing its historical development, leading
to the two great theories that shaped XXth century Physics:
a)
Relativity: The Michelson-Morley experiment. Time Dilation and space
contraction. The Lorentz Transformations. The twin Paradox.
Relativistic momentum, E = mc2 , and all that. Ideas of General
Relativity and black holes.
b)
Quantum mechanics: The advances on Kinetic Theory that laid the
foundation of Statistical Physics. (Equipartition of Energy, The
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution). Interaction between radiation and
matter. Planck and the quantization of Waves. Blackbody radiation. The
Photoelectric Effect. Early atomic theories. Rutherford and the
discovery of the nucleus. Bohr’s model of the atom. De Broglie’s waves
of matter. The uncertainty Principle and Particle-Wave Duality.
Prerequisite: PHY 1042, or PHY 1032 and Permission from the Instructor. Required for all Physics and Pre-engineering majors.
Requirements:
Weekly series of problems, one mid term, and a final oral presentation
to the class on a special topic, chosen among a list of applications of
Modern Physics: nuclear energy, elementary particles,
superconductivity, superfluid helium, etc
Mathematical Physics 4931H
Professor Fredy Zypman
M-W 3:00-4:15
In
this course the student becomes familiar with mathematical techniques
that appear in a variety of problems that originate in physics. Typical
problems considered come from mechanical motion, thermodynamics,
electromagnetism. Techniques include Fourier analysis, Modal analysis,
Green functions, Complex analysis, properties of Special functions.
Emphasis will be in problem solving and physical insight and thus the
approaches will be a balanced combination of analytical and
computational techniques.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Israeli Political Thought 2440 H
Professor Ruth Bevan
F 11:00-1:30
This course focuses on the process in which Israeli political identity is being created. It addresses, inter alia,
the role of collective memory, the evolution of Zionist thought, the
impact of immigration, the interplay of conflict and political
socialization, the function and meaning of secularism in the Jewish
state, the consideration of ethnic/religious minorities in the formation
of this identity. It will also look at Israel “between West and East.”
The basic text will be Anita Shapira’s Israel
(Brandeis.2012), awarded the National Jewish Book Award for 2012.
Students will work on projects exploring Israeli political identity and
give oral presentations on these projects at the end of the semester.
Guest lecturers are anticipated.
Great Political Thinkers 1401H (crosslisted with PHI )
Professor James Otteson
M-W 4:30-5:45
Political
philosophy begins with one fundamental question: "What kind of
government should we have?" Many questions follow from that one,
including questions about human nature, human psychology, and human
motivation; about morality and the good life; about wealth and
prosperity; about joint decision-making; and about conflict resolution.
In
this course we will survey some of the most important philosophical
investigations of these questions, focusing on the thought of some of
the great figures from the Western tradition. These will include
historical figures like Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, and Marx,
as well as more recent figures like John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
Our
goals will be to become familiar with the main arguments of these
figures, including their strengths and weaknesses, and then to develop
reasoned positions of our own.
Ethics and War: Classical and Contemporary Interpretations 2939H
(cross-listed in JPH and PHI)
Professor Shalom Carmy
T-Th 3:00-4:15
Honors
course team taught with Prof. Adrienne Asch. Topics (some tentative)
include: what is war, how is it justified in Western philosophy and
Halakha? Religious elements in war; Self-defense; humanitarian
intervention; Courage in battle; War and the modern state system;
Terrorism; Status of non-combatants; responsibility for war crimes: How
wars begin and how they end. Focus is on philosophical literature,
Jewish sources and recent legal discussion but we will also incorporate
historical examples and developments.
Writing: Several short papers on readings + longer paper at end.
Belongs to the majors in the 3 departments listed in. For OLD Curriculum, can satisfy either Humanities or Social Science unit.
PSYCHOLOGY
Research Seminar: Psychology of Goal Pursuit 4933H
Professor Anna-Lisa Cohen
M-W 3:00-4:15
In this course, we will read and discuss a number of empirical papers that center around an organizing theme of goal pursuit. In Bandura’s (1986) social–cognitive theory, almost all of human action is considered to be goal directed. In this course, we will explore the idea that behavior is motivated by anticipated outcomes and these outcomes serve as incentives for action. Our discussion will begin with the hypothesis that committing to a goal sets up a type of “tension” which persists until the goal is either completed or abandoned. This idea will lead us to consider a number of interesting questions: Is this unresolved goal tension, a result of the discrepancy between the present reality (wanting a goal) and the possible future reality (attainment of the goal), that motivates goal-related action? Is this tension adaptive and is it necessary to motivate action? Does tension cause a state of heightened sensitivity to the environment toward any information that can aid in fulfilling or completing the goal (i.e., resolving the tension)? In this case, heightened sensitivity toward goal-related information can be thought of as facilitation or fluency and it may be that this fluency in processing information is experienced subjectively as a sense of positive affect (e.g., Winkielman et al., 2006). Students will, it is hoped, grapple with these research issues that are of interest in contemporary social-cognitive psychology. Furthermore, by reading primary source publications you will gain critical analytical skills helping you to further your intellectual and scholarly development.
SOCIOLOGY
Education and Society 1283H
Professor Silke Aisenbray
T-Th 3:00-4:15
Our
goal is to investigate the role of education in our society. We will
explore educational systems and consider the following questions: How
does your high school determine your retirement? Which is more
important: What you learn or where you learn it? Does education work as a
motor towards equality? Do our schools reward the best students? How do
we define “best”? Does the educational system reproduce the class
structure of a society or challenge it? We will analyze these questions
from an international, comparative perspective and discuss issues
including social reproduction, the achievement gap and meritocracy. The
role of race, socioeconomic status, gender and upbringing will inform
our investigation. You will learn how to analyze and debate these issues
by applying different sociological theories of education.
SPANISH
Honors Intermediate Spanish I 1201H
Prof. Graciela Bazet-Broitman
M -W 3:00-4:15
This
is the first semester of a two-semester Intermediate course.
Intermediate Spanish I is designed to develop the four language skills,
listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish, and to deepen the
students’ exposure to the variety of cultural aspects within the
Hispanic world. The primary objective of both sequences is to help the
students reach a level in their command of the language that would allow
them to communicate proficiently both in speaking and writing. The
methodology used in the course will be primarily communicative, that is,
actually using what the students already know and presenting the new
material in authentic contexts. The complete two-semester course is
intended to present students with a variety of Spanish and Latin
American literary forms and authors. In Intermediate I, students will be
exposed to original texts by well-known Hispanic authors. These
literary texts will be presented to the students within the context of
the new vocabulary or structures that are being introduced in each
particular case. During the course of the semester there will be also be
cultural activities both inside and outside of YC. These activities
will be related to various aspects of the Hispanic cultural life in New
York City and will include visits to museums and attendance to
performances of plays by Hispanic authors. Participation in these
activities will be mandatory and students will be expected to prepare a
brief summary of each activity with their personal impressions. To the
maximum extent possible, both sequences of the course will be taught in
Spanish.
For students enrolled in the new curriculum, Intermediate Spanish I satisfies the Cultures Over Time core requirement.
STATISTICS
Honors Introduction to Statistics 1021H
Professor Omer Acikgoz
M-W 4:30-5:45