COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
(I hope to turn this into an on line course. e-mail me if you are interested)
PIO 691: SPECIAL TOPICS (VARIABLE CREDIT)
COMPLEXITY, SEMIOTICS, AND MODELING LIVING SYSTEMS
INSTRUCTOR: D. C. MIKULECKY, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY
http://views.vcu.edu/~mikuleck/
This course will be based on the works of Robert Rosen and, in particular, the book Life Itself, and will relate Rosen's work to the field of Semiotics.
The format will be supervised discussion.
TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:
THE BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
WHAT IS A MODEL?
THE NATURE OF MEASUREMENT
EMPIRICISM VS THEORY IN BIOLOGY
HOW DO MOLECULES CONTRIBUTE TO A SYSTEM?
SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS "HOW?" VS "WHY?"
WHAT IS A MACHINE?
WHAT IS AN ORGANISM?
WHY ARE ORGANISMS DIFFERENT FROM MACHINES?
GOETHE'S HOLISTIC SCIENCE
HORGAN'S "END OF SCIENCE"
WHAT IS COMPLEXITY
THE ROLE OF CHAOS THEORY IN BIOLOGY
THE MANY FACETS OF "TIME"
ON TO: INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
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