INTS 103: Human Creativity: Science and Art

INTS 103-004: Human Creativity: Science/Art
(Spring 2014)

09:30 AM to 12:00 PM MR

Johnson Center ROOM D

Section Information for Spring 2014

This course will consider the nature of human creativity by exploring the essential role creativity plays in both the sciences and the arts. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which the creative work of scientists and artists helps us better understand the impact humans have had on Earth’s natural systems and the life forms—human and nonhuman—that depend on those systems.

The course will cover the time period between the Industrial Revolution and the present day. We will use a combination of scientific sources and works in various artistic media to introduce the two most pressing ecological crises facing the world today, climate change and the mass extinction of species. We will then ask the following questions: 1) How have humans, especially those in industrialized societies, brought about these two ecological crises? 2) How might humans successfully avert the most dire impacts associated with these crises? To answer the first question, we will turn our attention to the scientific and technological breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution that enabled humans to tap the world’s vast fossil energy resources and bring about a radical enlargement of the human footprint on Earth. Moving from the Industrial Revolution to the present day, we will consider the impact of industrial culture on global biodiversity and Earth’s climate, and on humans themselves. We will examine how art in various media, genres, and time periods has not only critiqued and challenged the changes wrought by industrial culture, but also foreseen, facilitated, and validated these changes. The last part of the course will focus on the present moment, introducing students to cutting-edge work in the arts and sciences that aims to harness human creativity in shaping a culture that lives in balance with Planet Earth.

This course emphasizes the following New Century College competencies: Aesthetic Awareness, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Global Understanding.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 6

Investigates the vital role played by human creativity in fine arts and natural sciences. Fosters an understanding of the aesthetic and intellectual components of the arts while exploring the scientific method, the relation of theory and experiment, and the development and elaboration of major ideas in science. Offered by School of Integrative Studies. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Arts, Natural Science Overview
Specialized Designation: Green Leaf Related Course, Mason Impact.
Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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