4.104 Architecture Studio: Intentions (MIT)
This is the second undergraduate design studio. It introduces a full range of architectural ideas and issues through drawing exercises, analyses of precedents, and explored design methods. Students will develop design skills by conceptualizing and representing architectural ideas and making aesthetic judgments about building design. Discussions regarding architecture's role in mediating culture, nature and technology will help develop the students' architectural vocabulary.
How to use Microsoft Excel in the Classroom I am finding my students are increasingly using spreadsheets to solve mathematical problems in class and represent their data and findings in meaningful ways. Th
I am finding my students are increasingly using spreadsheets to solve mathematical problems in class and represent their data and findings in meaningful ways. Th
Ethics, Hospitality and Radical Atheism: A Dialogue
Dialogue between Martin Hägglund and Derek Attridge in Wadham College discussing Philosopher Jacques Derrida's ideas on hospitality and the challenge of Radical Atheism
20. Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII
Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta examines Paradise XVIII-XIX and XXI-XXII. In Paradise XVIII, Dante enters the Heaven of Jupiter, where the souls of righteous rulers assume the form of an eagle, the emblem of the Roman Empire. The Eagle's outcry against the wickedness of Christian kings leads Dante to probe the boundaries of divine justice by looking beyond the confines of Christian Europe. By contrasting the political with the moral boundaries that distinguis
Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the general scheme and scope of the Divine Comedy and to the life of its author. Various genres to which the poem belongs (romance, epic, vision) are indicated, and special attention is given to its place within the encyclopedic tradition. The poem is then situated historically through an overview of Dante's early poetic and political careers and the circumstances that led to his exile. Professor Mazzotta concludes by dis
23. Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII
Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta lectures on the final cantos of Paradise (XXX-XXXIII). The pilgrim's journey through the physical world comes to an end with his ascent into the Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Beatrice welcomes Dante into the Heavenly Jerusalem, where the elect are assembled in a celestial rose. By describing the Empyrean as both a garden and a city, Dante recalls the poles of his own pilgrimage while dissolving the classical divide bet
17.554 Political Economy of Latin America (MIT)
This class explores the politics of economic reform in Latin America. Topics addressed include: Dependency, Development, and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism; The Political Consequences of Market-Oriented Reform in Venezuela; The Mexican Peso Crisis; Transitions from Authoritarian Rule in the Southern Cone; Civil-Military Relations; Limits of Democratization; Parties and Elections in Latin America; Religion, Political Mobilization, and Civil Society; and Revolution.
17.32 Environmental Politics and Policy (MIT)
"Environmental Politics & Policy" explores the workings of environmental policymaking in the United States. What are the big issues facing environmental policy? How did we end up with the policies we have today? Why does it take a crisis to move environmental policy forward? Why do political factors - economic interests, social and political values, bureaucratic styles, ideologies, elections, etc. - always seem to overwhelm sound scientific and engineering judgment in determining policy out
17.53 Democratization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (MIT)
Recent years have seen an astonishing spread of democracy to many African, Asian, and Latin American countries. What caused these dramatic political transitions? What challenges do democratizing countries in the Third World face? Will these new democracies endure? We will take up these questions using film, fiction, and popular journalism, as well as scholarly research. We will also focus on a small number of countries (Brazil, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Singapore, and Sri Lanka) in order
21L.470 Eighteenth-Century Literature: Versions of the Self in 18th-C Britain (MIT)
When John Locke declared (in the 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding) that knowledge was derived solely from experience, he raised the possibility that human understanding and identity were not the products of God's will or of immutable laws of nature so much as of one's personal history and background. If on the one hand Locke's theory led some to pronounce that individuals could determine the course of their own lives, however, the idea that we are the products of our experience just as
21H.102 The Emergence of Modern America 1865-Present (MIT)
This subject studies the changing structure of American politics, economics, and society from the end of the Civil War to the present. We will consider secondary historical accounts and primary documents to examine some of the key issues in the development of modern America: industrialization and urbanization; U.S. emergence as a global power; ideas about rights and equality; and the changing structures of gender, class, and race. This subject also examines the multiple answers that Americans ga
21L.002 Foundations of Western Culture II (MIT)
Complementary to 21L.001. A broad survey of texts - literary, philosophical, and sociological - studied to trace the growth of secular humanism, the loss of a supernatural perspective upon human events, and changing conceptions of individual, social, and communal purpose. Stresses appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the common cultural possession of our time. Enrollment limited. HASS-D, CI. Readings this semester ranging from political theory and oratory to autobiography, p
Love on the rocks?
How badly has the recession affected the relationship between political parties and business? Expert in the field - Professor Mick Moran - assesses the cracks in the relationship and how the crisis will affect it in the future. Professor Moran was at the University to open the inaugural seminar series for the Centre for British Politics.
21L.704 Studies in Poetry: Gender and Lyric -- Renaissance Men and Women Writing about Love (MIT)
The core of this seminar will be the great sequences of English love sonnets written by William Shakespeare, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and Mary Wroth. These poems cover an enormous amount of aesthetic and psychological ground: ranging from the utterly subjective to the entirely public or conventional, from licit to forbidden desires, they might also serve as a manual of experimentation with the resources of sound, rhythm, and figuration in poetry. Around these sequences, we will develop sev
21H.952J Readings in American History Since 1877 (MIT)
This seminar aims to develop a teaching knowledge of the field through extensive reading and discussion of major works. The reading covers a broad range of topics - political, economic, social, and cultural - and represents a variety of historical methods.
17.042 Citizenship and Pluralism (MIT)
This course will serve as both an introduction to contemporary political philosophy and a way to explore issues of pluralism and multiculturalism. Racial and ethnic groups, national minorities, aboriginals, women, sexual minorities, and other groups have organized to highlight injustice and demand recognition and accommodation on the basis of their differences. In practice, democratic states have granted a variety of group-differentiated rights, such as exemptions from generally applicable laws,
17.869 Political Science Scope and Methods (MIT)
This course is designed to provide an introduction to a variety of empirical research methods used by political scientists. The primary aims of the course are to make you a more sophisticated consumer of diverse empirical research and to allow you to conduct sophisticated independent work in your junior and senior years. This is not a course in data analysis. Rather, it is a course on how to approach political science research.
17.422 Field Seminar in International Political Economy (MIT)
This field seminar in international political economy covers major theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives. The basic orientation is disciplinary and comparative (over time and across countries, regions, firms), spanning issues relevant to both industrial and developing states. Special attention is given to challenges and dilemmas shaped by the macro-level consequences of micro-level behavior, and by micro-level adjustments to macro-level influences.
24.902 Language and its Structure II: Syntax (MIT)
This course will acquaint you with some of the important results and ideas of the last half - century of research in syntax. We will explore a large number of issues and a large amount of data so that you can learn something of what this field is all about. From time to time, we will discuss related work in language acquisition and processing. The class will emphasize ideas and arguments for these ideas in addition to the the details of particular analyses. At the same time, you will learn the m