Search result: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2019

GESS Science in Perspective Information
Only the topics listed in this paragraph can be chosen as GESS Science in Perspective.
Further below you will find the "type B courses Reflections about subject specific methods and content" as well as the language courses.

6 ECTS need to be acquired during the BA and 2 ECTS during the MA

Students who already took a course within their main study program are NOT allowed to take the course again.
Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence
Suitable for all students.

Students who already took a course within their main study program are NOT allowed to take the course again.
History
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
851-0549-00LWebClass Introductory Course History of Technology 3.0 Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 50

Registration in the introductory session on 23.9.2019. In addition, registration at Link as well as on the Moodle server is required. Late registrations cannot be considered

Particularly suitable for students of D-BAUG, D-INFK, D-ITET, D-MATL, D-MAVT.
W3 credits2VG. Hürlimann
AbstractTechnology stands for innovation and catastrophes; it works as a dream machine and is associated with the most diverse ways of utilization. In WebClass Introductory Course History of Technology 3.0 students become familiar with explanations for how technology works within complex economic, political and cultural contexts, by interpreting and researching texts and authoring a student manual.
ObjectiveStudents are introduced into how technological innovations take place within complex economic, political and cultural contexts. They get to know basic theories and practices of the field by acquiring the skills to interpret texts, to compare arguments, to research additional sources and complementary material and to author a common essay. All of this will yield into a student manual on the four core topics: technology and innovation, technology and catastrophes, technology as a dream machine and technology and association. The course language is German, and even if many texts will be in English, the ability to read and understand German is mandatory.
ContentTechnik steht für Innovation und Katastrophen, sie dient als Wunschmaschine und ist mit unterschiedlichsten Nutzungsformen assoziiert. Die WebClass Technikgeschichte 3.0 ist ein webgestützter Einführungskurs, der um diese technikhistorischen Grundthemen kreist. Technikgeschichte untersucht Angebote technischer Entwicklungen, die in bestimmten historischen Kontexten entstanden und von sozialen Gruppen oder ganzen Gesellschaften als Möglichkeit sozialen Wandels wahrgenommen, ausgehandelt und schliesslich genutzt oder vergessen wurden. Die Studierenden lernen, sich in jene Aushandlungsprozesse einzudenken, die soziotechnische Veränderungen stets begleiten. Sie interpretieren Texte, vergleichen Argumente, recherchieren alte und neue Darstellungen und verfassen in Gruppen einen Beitrag zu ihrem eigenen Manual der Technikgeschichte. Der Onlinekurs wird von zwei obligatorischen Präsenzveranstaltungen – einer Einführungssitzung und einem Redaktionsmeeting – begleitet. Die aktive Teilnahme und das erfolgreiche Bearbeiten von Onlineaufgaben (Verfassen von Texten) werden vorausgesetzt.
Lecture notesInformationen zur Arbeit mit der WebClass Technikgeschichte finden Sie unter Link. Sobald Sie eingeschrieben sind, haben Sie Zugang zum Online-Kurs auf Moodle mit den Aufgaben und den weiterführenden Materialien.
LiteratureLink
Prerequisites / NoticeOnlinekurs mit 2 oblig. Präsenzsitzungen
Einführungssitzung: Montag 23.9.2019, 17:15-19:00
Redaktionssitzung: Montag 11.11.2019, 17:15-19:00
Ambulatorium (Sprechstunde) nach Gruppen: Montag 25.11.2019, 17:15-19:00

In der Webclass werden die Studierenden mit technikhistorischen Perspektiven bekannt gemacht. Sie lernen, solche Perspektiven zu erfassen, zwischen ihnen zu differenzieren und sich selbst zu positionieren nach dem Dreischritt behaupten - begründen - belegen. Zudem entwickeln sie ein Sensorium für die Arbeit mit historischen Quellen.
Der Kurs besteht aus fünf Online-Phasen, zwei Präsenzsitzungen und einer Sprechstunde. In den Online-Phasen werden Aufsätze und Quellen schriftlich in Blog-Foren bearbeitet und diskutiert. Die Präsenzsitzungen dienen der gemeinsamen Vorbereitung und Reflexion. Der Leistungsnachweis erfolgt in der Teilnahme an den Präsenzsitzungen und durch die Blogbeiträge, die alle Teilnehmenden gemäss klar definierten Rollen und Aufgaben verfassen.
853-0725-00LHistory Part One: Europe (The Cradle of Modernity, Britain, 1789-1914) Information W3 credits2VH. Fischer-Tiné
AbstractA range of fundamental processes have transformed European societies in the course of the 19th and the 20th centuries. This lecture series asks whether one single model of modernization prevailed on the 'Old Continent' or whether we need to differenciate regionally. A special focus lies on the Swiss experience.
ObjectiveAt the end of this lecture course, students can: (a) highlight the most important changes in the "long nineteenth century" in Europe (b) explain their long-term effects; and (c) relate these changes to global developments today.
ContentThe thematic foci include: Industrialization on the British Isles, urban growth in Switzerland, the difficult road to democracy in Germany, and French individualism.
Lecture notesPower Point Slides and references will be made available in digital form during the course of the semester.
LiteratureMandatory and further reading will be listed on the course plan that is made available as from the first session.
Prerequisites / NoticeThis lecture series does not build upon specific previous knowledge by the students.
851-0105-00LBackground Knowledge Arabic WorldW2 credits2VU. Gösken
AbstractThis lecture will discuss important topics of the Arab culture involving concepts relating to history, the role of literature, sciences and religion, concepts of 'the West', meaning of education, understanding of culture as well as current concepts and discourses relevant at the sociocultural level.
ObjectiveTeaching about epistemic contents relating to the Arabic world that constitute modern Arabs' self understanding and are relevant for adequate behavior in practically dealing with the Arabic world. What basic knowledge about 'their' culture are Arabs taught? What educational goals are pursued? What is the relationship they build with the West?
The topics that are discussed on the basis of a scientifically critical approach are concepts and understandings of history, the role of literature, sciences and religion, concepts of the West and relationship with the West, the role of education, understanding of culture and cultural refinement, current concepts and discourses relevant at the sociocultural level.
851-0125-65LA Sampler of Histories and Philosophies of Mathematics
Particularly suitable for students D-CHAB, D-INFK, D-ITET, D-MATH, D-PHYS
W3 credits2VR. Wagner
AbstractThis course will review several case studies from the ancient, medieval and modern history of mathematics. The case studies will be analyzed from various philosophical perspectives, while situating them in their historical and cultural contexts.
ObjectiveThe course aims are:
1. To introduce students to the historicity of mathematics
2. To make sense of mathematical practices that appear unreasonable from a contemporary point of view
3. To develop critical reflection concerning the nature of mathematical objects
4. To introduce various theoretical approaches to the philosophy and history of mathematics
5. To open the students' horizons to the plurality of mathematical cultures and practices
701-0791-00LEnvironmental History - Introduction and Overview Restricted registration - show details
Does not take place this semester.
Number of participants limited to 100.
W2 credits2Vto be announced
AbstractOur society faces a serious ecological crisis. Of what historical dimension is this crisis? How have human societies already in earlier times changed their environment, and, consequently, perhaps also ours? What were the main ecological challenges for societies and how did they change over time? And how did societies adapt to changing environmental conditions?
ObjectiveIntroduction into environmental history; survey of long-term development of human-nature-interrelations; discussion of selected problems. Improved ability to assess current problems from a historical perspective and to critically interrogate one's own standpoint.
Lecture notesCourse material is provided in digital form.
LiteratureMcNeill, John R. 2000. Something new under the sun: An environmental history of the twentieth-century world, New York: Norton.

Uekötter, Frank (Ed.) 2010. The turning points of environmental history, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Winiwarter, Verena und Martin Knoll 2007. Umweltgeschichte: Eine Einführung, Köln: Böhlau.
Prerequisites / NoticeStudents are asked to write an exam during the last session
851-0101-72LThe Modern City and Cultural Criticism. The "Knowledge of Life" in Reform Movements 1880-1933W3 credits2VS. S. Leuenberger
AbstractRapid industrialisation, urbanisation and the unique sociopolitical conditions of 19th century Germany led, from 1880 onwards, to radical cultural criticism and calls for reform by parts of the bourgeoisie and youth. This lecture focuses on the theory and aesthetic practice of a wide range of reform movements, the so-called "Lebensreform" (life reform movement).
ObjectiveThe lecture is part of the "Science in Perspective" course programme: students will learn about the precursors of today’s calls for reform and alternative concepts which propagated the "back-to-nature" lifestyle around the 1900s.
ContentThe rapid industrialisation, mechanisation and urbanisation of 19th century Europe gave rise to a whole new set of challenges and problems in cities. From 1880 onwards, the unique sociopolitical conditions in Germany resulted in anti-urban and cultural criticism by parts of the bourgeoisie and academic youth, culminating in the idea that the fanatical belief in progress would end in disaster. Consequently, a wide array of reform movements sprang up, focusing on medical hygiene and sociopolitical, ideological, religious and spiritual concepts, which were intended to heal the mind and body. These movements were a wholly German and Swiss phenomenon and summarised under the term "Lebensreform" which also encompassed naturopathy, dress reforms, naturism, health food and vegetarianism, youth and womens’ movements, sexual liberation and intentional communities, organic farming, land reform, cooperative/free economy/garden city movements, nature conservation and homeland protection, progressive education and country boarding school movement, art education and Dalcroze eurhythmics, expressive dance, theatre reforms, regional literature and art, anthroposophy, the emergence of Germanic-German/German Christian religious communities, religious socialism and the Jewish renaissance.

This movement was clearly politically diverse, and attracted all manner of advocates, for example, those with social anarchist, jingoistic or anti-Semitic beliefs. What made them kindred spirits was their rather negative experience of modernisation: their fantasies about the era merely confirmed that existing interpretations of the human existence (Dasein) were obsolete. Amongst the fantasies was, as described by Gert Mattenklott, the idea of a dramatic shift in current thinking and the creation of a new world, the emergence of a new mankind that embodied the characteristics of youth, and a new community. Strong dichotomies like light and darkness, hot and cold, the fears of dehumanisation and a propensity for vegetarianism were also typical of life reforms.

The lecture is part of the "Science in Perspective" course programme: students will learn about the precursors of today’s calls for reform and alternative concepts which propagated the "back-to-nature" lifestyle around the 1900s. Some of the key concepts used then are unknown today or have been disavowed due to exploitation by the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Nevertheless, some of the original topics and objectives have once again become contemporary topics of discussion due to the debate about the future of society, the whole of mankind and the planet. Historization of present-day concepts is the condition on which plans for a possible future can be compared with previous attempts and experiences, and to identify alternatives and potential impasses, and provide objective evidence for debate.
LiteratureThe reading list includes literary texts and discursive texts, amongst others, from Gustav Landauer, Erich Mühsam, Else Lasker-Schüler, Paul Scheerbart, Heinrich and Julius Hart, Rudolf Steiner, Sebastian Kneipp, Max Bircher-Benner, Theodor Hertzka, Franz Oppenheimer, Ebenezer Howard, Theodor Goecke, Hermann Muthesius, Karl Schmidt-Hellerau, Bruno Taut, Gustav Wyneken, Wassily Kandinsky, Ludwig Klages, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Walter Benjamin, Martin Buber, Peter Altenberg, Robert Müller, Christian Kracht. Furthermore, we will discuss creative contributions from E. M. Lilien and Fidus (pseudonym Hugo Höppener).
851-0101-88LNational Socialist Persecution, International Politics on Refugees and Science 1933-1945 Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30
W3 credits2GG. Spuhler
AbstractThe course discusses the development of National Socialist persecution policy, the reactions of democratic states to the persecution of the Jews and the role of science in the Nazi regime.
ObjectiveThe students are able to distinguish the phases of persecution and know various models to explain how the Holocaust came about. They can situate Swiss refugee policy in an international context. In their engagement with science under National Socialism, they develop an awareness of the socio-political responsibility of science.
ContentThe "Nazis" and the "Holocaust" are omnipresent in politics and entertainment industry - often combined with a lack of historical knowledge. The students learn about the logic of radicalization from exclusion to expulsion to extermination. The reaction of selected states to the persecution of Jews will enable them to recognise the challenge the Nazi regime posed to Western democracies and to place Swiss refugee policy in an international context.

The fact that "the Germans," whose achievements in art and science made them one of the world's leading nations, murdered millions of people on an industrial scale, caused widespread horror. This is based on the assumption that education and culture stand in contrast to the "barbarism" of the "Nazis". Therefore, the course pays special attention to the role of science and the academically educated people.
851-0101-91LModernity and its Other: Fantastic Literature and Occultism ca. 1900W3 credits2VA. Kilcher
AbstractThe course focuses on the complex relation between the Fantastic and Occultism, which is understood as part of the history of knowledge of the imaginary after the 18th century.
ObjectiveThe course aims at conveying a general overview on various theoretical and literary conceptions of the Fantastic. At the same time it wishes to transmit the knowledge of occultism and its forms of representation.
ContentThe Fantastic may be understood as the conflictual surpassing of the fundamental literary function of fantasy during the modern age. Fantasy no longer structures an autonomous wonderful world, but it breaks in on the real as the imaginary. After 1800, and in the form of the imaginary, the fantastic breaks into a world that is thought to be rational and scientifically explainable while dissolving the causative correlations of the Enlightenment. In the backdrop of such tensed evolution, the Fantastic establishes itself within the context of the secularisation and of the scientification of knowledge. Yet, the Fantastic also promotes new forms of knowledge that come into conflict with the academic sciences during the 18th and 19th centuries and assert themselves as counterknowledge. This becomes evident and comprehensible in relation to occult sciences, namely theosophy, occultism, spiritism etc. With reference to the Fantastic counterknowledge becomes evident in a wide variety of distinctive images, and narratives, that relate of the uncanny, the gothic, the grotesque, the demonic, the surreal etc. At the same time, occult sciences look for the proximity to the arts of the Fantastic, that promise a new aesthetic -- as well as their possibilities in the media -- for the representation and the narration of the imaginary and the obscure.

The course has a twofold goal. It wishes to understand the notion and the history of Fantastic literature beginning with the 19th century, taking as case studies crucial and intriguing writers such as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Gustav Meyrink and Jorge Louis Borges. At the same time, the course aims at ascertaining the notion "occult knowledge" (resp. occult sciences) and its epistemological aspiration in conflict with academic knowledge. The lecture, therefore, aims at the reconstruction of the complex interrelation between the Fantastic and Occultism as a part of the history of knowledge of the imaginary right up to Psychoanalysis.
851-0101-77LScience and the State Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30.
W3 credits2SR. Wagner
AbstractThis course will reflect on historical and contemporary relations between science and the state. Through various case studies, we will inquire how these two institutions shaped each other. The case studies will cover various scientific disciplines.
ObjectiveTo understand how science helped form the state apparatus, and how politics helped shape science; evaluate the image of science as three thinking vs. servant of the state; analyze the role of science in generating political authority and political reasoning; analyze how political ideals are expressed in science.
851-0158-17LPractical Alchemy, 1500-1700 Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30.
W3 credits2ST. Asmussen
AbstractAlchemy in the early modern period encompassed much more than the desire for gold. The seminar explores the topic of alchemy from its practical side. It addresses the knowledge of natural substances and their properties. Our main focus is directed to questions of actors, places and practices of alchemical knowledge as well as the economic promises associated with these practices.
ObjectiveThe seminar provides insight into the broad spectrum of alchemical literature from about 1500-1750. Further the important contribution of vernacular and craft knowledge to the development of empirical sciences will be discussed. Participants are expected to read original sources in German, French and English.
ContentThroughout the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period alchemy meant both natural philosophy and practical knowledge of natural substances and their properties. Some alchemists turned more to the philosophical and mystical side, others to the practical, and again others combined both. From the 16th century practical alchemy received particular attention at the courts and in the major European trading cities. This interest in alchemy became evident on the book market as well. Books of mining and metallurgy, books for smelting, pigment production or recipe books and “Kräuterbücher” were widely spread. Sometimes they underwent several editions. In addition to the printed books, a large number of manuscripts and recipe collections circulated at courts and in urban households. In the seminar we will turn towards the mysterious figure of the alchemist and shed light on the complex questions of who he was and what it meant to be an alchemist. Further we examine the broad spectrum of alchemical knowledge and its various domains of application. Next to this interest in the forms of alchemical epistemology we shed light on the business of alchemy: who commissioned alchemical knowledge? What kind of promises and desires motivated alchemical contracts and what risks were involved.
851-0101-48LInfrastructural Imaginaries in the History of Knowledge and TechnologyW3 credits2SD. F. Zetti, J. Bruder
AbstractIn the second half of the 20th century, infrastructures have dramatically changed. Emerging digital societies connected computers, users, programs and data. In the 21st century infrastructures are increasingly overlapping, linked by digital technologies of transmission and storage. The lecture offers problem oriented insights into this sociotechnical process of translation.
ObjectiveIn the second half of the 20th century, infrastructures have dramatically changed. Emerging digital societies connected computers, users, programs and data. In the 21st century infrastructures are increasingly overlapping, linked by digital technologies of transmission and storage. The lecture offers problem oriented insights into this sociotechnical process of translation.
ContentInfrastrukturen halten Güter und Personen in Bewegung. Sie umfassen dabei Kanäle als Shortcuts der Weltmeere ebenso wie klimatisch kühl verankerte Rechenzentren. Öl, Wasser, Strom, Züge, Autos, Containerschiffe, Pendler, Urlauber, Diplomaten, Daten und intelligente Maschinen: Im Seminar werden infrastrukturelle Prozesse und Projekte, Figuren und Objekte auf kultur-, technik- und wissenschaftshistorische Dimensionen befragt.
Die im Seminar behandelten Beispiele stammen aus dem Zeitraum des 19. bis 21. Jahrhunderts. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf den Jahren ab 1960, als im Entstehungskontext digitaler Gesellschaften die Verbindung von Rechnern, NutzerInnen, Programmen und Daten imaginiert und produktiv wurde. Im 21. Jahrhundert verbinden Techniken des Übertragens und Speicherns Infrastrukturen, die sich zunehmend überlappen.
851-0101-31LThe Rise of an Asian Giant: Introduction to the History of Modern India (c. 1600-2000)W3 credits2VH. Fischer-Tiné
AbstractThe lecture offers a survey of the historical trajectories taken by the countries of the Indian subcontinent from the 17th century to the turn of the 21st century. The thematic foci include, but are not limited, to an examination of the question whether or or not there was a pre-European South Asian modernity.
ObjectiveThrough this course students are acquainted with the history of one of the most important world regions. The objective is not only to introduce participants to a richly diverse civilization, they are also encouraged to look at interrelations and make comparisons with the West. Through this approach their knowledge of European history is contextualised in a global framework while simultaneously their intercultural sensitivity is being trained.
851-0101-81LScience, Politics, Ideology: Mapping a Conflict Zone Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 30.
W3 credits2SM. Wulz
AbstractAs an 'objective' search for knowledge, science seems to be in sharp contrast to ideology. Or can we also find ideological forms of science – thus scientific knowledge under ideological conditions? Is 'ideology', in this case, a form of knowledge? And what is its role with regard to other forms of scientific knowledge?
ObjectiveIn the course, we will look at case studies and theoretical accounts in order to examine the conflict zone between science and ideology. We will develop methods in order to understand in which way 'ideological knowledge' can be analyzed in relation to science.
ContentThe relation of science and ideology has a long and controversial history. And even today this relation seems to be at stake, for example, when critics denounce climate change as an "ideological construct". In the course, we will look at case studies and in this way explore the conflict zone between ideological and scientific forms of knowledge. Based on theoretical approaches we will, moreover, develop methods in order to analyze the characteristics of ideological knowledge in relation to science.
851-0145-08LFrom Biographies of Scientific Objects to Global Narratives in Swiss Museums Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 25.
W3 credits2ST. Bartoletti
AbstractThis seminar will explore the contemporary trend in global narratives in the history of knowledge and its relation to material culture. The focus will be placed on scientific objects and their “biographies” as a means for constructing the history of science. It involves the understanding of knowledge networks and the establishment of museums and collections as “cathedrals of science.”
ObjectiveThe seminar on biographies of scientific objects aims to research critically the centre-periphery dynamics in the history of knowledge from perspectives related to the materiality turn and questions of human-non-human agencies. The course proposes methodologically to explore the “territory”, visiting Swiss museums, collections and storage facilities where this issue can be examined today.
ContentInterest in a global understanding of historic processes has led to a diverse number of investigations and theoretical frameworks that continue to be redefined extensively. The global history approach of this seminar follows this growing trend, adding a Swiss case to the global history of science. In general terms, a global history approach entails an explanation of structured transformations on a global level, transcending national perspectives and “decentralizing” world history. It differs from the older tradition of world history and its narratives of civilization because its focus is not on comparisons or diffusionist explanations, but rather “entanglements”, “networks”, “circulation” and “flows,” aiming to foster interactions across borders. The historiography of science tends to be conceived as a “Global History of Science” in order to include a non-diffusionist narrative of knowledge production and to integrate indigenous epistemologies. In this regard, the Swiss museums as “cathedrals of science” are representative of a broader trans-imperial institutionalization of science in Europe and thus is an interesting object of study but also quite explored critically in Swiss historiography. Recently, debates about the European construction of natural and ethnological collections and epistemic colonization through the trafficking of objects, fossils and bones for their heritage have acquired greater visibility. Moreover, the research of the establishment of Swiss museums intersects adequately with the recent school of studies on “Colonial Switzerland”. This relatively new body of work mainly deconstructs the idea of Swiss “innocence” in colonial territories, reinserting Switzerland in post-colonial studies debates.

A seminar in the research of “biographies” of scientific objects and global narratives in Swiss museums will focus on archeological pieces, fossils, substances, animals among others and their “biographies” as a means for constructing the history of knowledge. This approach, which has been done considerably in recent years, brings with it new theoretical and methodological frameworks, especially related to the materiality turn and questions of human-non-human agencies. Thus, biographies of scientific objects allow us to research epistemic and post-colonial entanglements and the centre-periphery dynamics in the history of knowledge from other perspectives. The seminar proposes methodologically to visit Swiss laboratories, museums, collections and storage facilities and thus the examination will be based on a termpaper related to the history of these collections and museums.
052-0801-00LGlobal History of Urban Design I Information W2 credits2GT. Avermaete
AbstractThis course focuses on the history of the city, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that engender and lead their developments and transformations. The history of urban design will be approached as a cross-cultural field of knowledge that integrates scientific, economic and technical innovation as well as social and cultural advance.
ObjectiveThe lectures deal mainly with the definition of urban design as an independent discipline, which maintains connections with other disciplines (politics, sociology, geography) that are concerned with the transformation of the city. The aim is to make students conversant with the multiple theories, concepts and approaches of urban design as they were articulated throughout time in a variety of cultural contexts, thus offering a theoretical framework for students' future design work.
ContentIn the first semester the genesis of the objects of study, the city, urban culture and urban design, are introduced and situated within their intellectual, cultural and political contexts:

01. The History and Theory of the City as Project
02. Of Rituals, Water and Mud: The Urban Revolution in Mesopotamia and the Indus
03: The Idea of the Polis: Rome, Greece and Beyond
04: The Long Middle Ages and their Counterparts: From the Towns of Tuscany to Delhi
05: Between Ideal and Laboratory: Of Middle Eastern Grids and European Renaissance Principles
06: Of Absolutism and Enlightenment: Baroque, Defense and Colonization
07: The City of Labor: Company Towns as Cross-Cultural Phenomenon
09: Garden Cities of Tomorrow: From the Global North to the Global South and Back Again
010: Civilized Wilderness and City Beautiful: The Park Movement of Olmsted and The Urban Plans of Burnham
011: The Extension of the European City: From the Viennese Ringstrasse to Amsterdam Zuid
Lecture notesPrior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These chapters will provide an introduction to the lecture, the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, as well as references to the compulsory and additional reading.
LiteratureThere are three books that will function as main reference literature throughout the course:

-Ching, Francis D. K, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. Hoboken: Wiley, 2017.
-Ingersoll, Richard. World Architecture: A Cross-Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
-James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. Architecture Since 1400. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

These books will be reserved for consultation in the ETH Baubibliothek, and will not be available for individual loans.

A list of further recommended literature will be found within each chapter of the reader (Skript).
Prerequisites / NoticeStudents are required to familiarize themselves with the conventions of architectural drawing (reading and analyzing plans at various scales).
Literature
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
851-0315-01LWriting: Precision of Language as a Field of Research for Literature Restricted registration - show details W1 credit1GF. Kretzen
AbstractWhen we write a literary text we enter into a set-up for experiments and explore the possibilities ensuing from the specific structure and consistency of such a text. Literary writing allows us to go over to another kind of knowledge. Thus, the question: what is it that I want to write about? is replaced by: what do I write?
ObjectiveIn this course we shall analyze and apply conditions and criteria for literary writing on the basis of our own texts.
The course is intended for persons who are interested in literary approaches to exactitude.
Any attempt to write literature is confronted with an unforeseeable linguistic dynamism whose feasibility is determined by laws and rules quite different from those of science and technology. For the science-oriented writer, experiencing the self-evidence produced by literary approaches in his or her own writing project opens up a field of language with new content and new methods.
ContentIn the natural sciences as well as in engineering we set up experiments, analyze equation systems, and formulate theories. In order to complement these practices, the course «Writing» shall pursue precision in literary writing, its choice of word and its self-evidence.

When we write a literary text we also enter into a set-up for experiments and explore the possibilities ensuing from the specific structure and overall consistency of such a text. This form of writing takes us from the question: what is it that I want to write about? to the question: what do I write?
How do such literary approaches differ from the ways in which the natural sciences use language?
In this course we shall analyze and apply conditions and criteria for literary writing on the basis of our own texts.
The course is intended for persons who are interested in literary approaches to exactitude.
Any attempt to write literature is confronted with an unforeseeable linguistic dynamism whose feasibility is determined by laws and rules quite different from those of science and technology. For the science-oriented writer, experiencing the self-evidence produced by literary approaches in his or her own writing project opens up a field of language with new content and new methods.
Prerequisites / NoticeThose wishing to participate are required to send in between two and three pages text of their own writing that will be discussed in class. The next step will be writing a text on a preset topic as a basis for discussing the various realizations of a given task.
851-0101-28LThe Birth of a Writer. Primo Levi and His “If this is a Man”W3 credits2VM. Belpoliti
AbstractThe course retraces Levi’s writing journey which began after his return from the Auschwitz concentration camp and eventually led to the young chemist and former deportee become a writer. It thus focuses on Levi as an author in progress, following his consecutive writings and rewritings that culminated in the first publication of his work in 1947 and the now canonical re-edition of 1958.
ObjectiveThe course aim is to enter Levi’s writing workshop. Even though his first book has been regarded an immediate and spontaneous work for a long time, it went through a complex process of elaboration: from poetry to testimony, from memory to narration.
ContentThe course retraces Levi’s writing journey which began after his return from the Auschwitz concentration camp and eventually led to the young chemist and former deportee become a writer. The work he had written frantically during the first months after his return to Turin was to have a very curious destiny. Rejected by the publishers on first presentation, the book was printed in 1947 by De Silva, a small Turin publisher. However, it soon disappeared from the post-war literary horizon and only re-emerged in 1958 thanks to Einaudi. Thus began the long journey of one of the most extraordinary and profound stories of the extermination of the Jews of Europe, which has not ended yet.

The course focuses on Levi as an author in progress, following his consecutive writings and rewritings that culminated in the first publication of his work in 1947 and the now canonical re-edition of 1958, which has been translated into various languages. With what procedures, with what progressions has he become the writer we know from his debut work? To answer these questions we will analyse the parts added in the volume of 1958, focusing on the similarities characterizing the sheets inserted in the 1958 "typescript", on corrections and deletions, on the change of perspective between the two versions of the same book: an immersion in the laboratory of a writer who writes and rewrites, a tribute to Primo Levi in the centenary year of his birth.
851-0101-71LThe Autodidactic Journey in WritingW3 credits2VP. Kramer
AbstractThe opportunity is a rare, for a writer, to be able to reflect back on the texts, inspirations, movies and life experiences that shaped her work. It is on this autodidactic journey in literature that Pascale Kramer (Grand prix suisse de littérature 2017) intend to look back on in her lecture.
ObjectiveStudents and public will get the opportunity to discover and reflect on the literary beginnings, on the studio of creativity and the artistic evolution of a great Swiss contemporary writer.
ContentThe opportunity is rare, for a writer, to be able to reflect back on the texts, inspirations, movies and life experiences that shaped her work. It is on this autodidactic journey in literature that I intend to look back on, together with the students and the public. It will be an exchange on a wide range of issues, starting with my first true encounters: Hervé Guibert for the audacity “until the end” and the ethical stance, and Pascal Quignard for the frugal exactitude of the style. I will also touch on the discovery of the American authors and the ensuing feeling of filiation: Philip Roth, Richard Ford, Richard Bash. On the subject of the suffering body with Philippe Ramy and Charlotte Delbo. On the emergence of the political sentiment and my intimate approach of the precariousness through the documentary Au bout du monde by Claus Drexel. But also on my life at home in Valgiros; and my stays at l’Ancien Carmel of Condom, which will lead to Chronique d’un lieu en partage and Une famille. I will also examine the issue of writing about sexuality, with Moravia ‘s L’amour conjugal or Ghislaine Dunant’s L’impudeur, and about violence with Disgrace by J-M Coetzee, or the vertiginous Alcapone le Malien by Sami Tchak. And probably many more topics that will come up along the way…
851-0301-17LGerman RomanticismW3 credits2VC. Jany
AbstractThis introductory course to German Romanticism explores chiefly Romantic poetics and its reflexive as well as ironic forms of communicating and knowing, which eschew rationalistic and scientific platitudes. Equally important will be the inherent contradictions of Romanticism, for it is division, not unity, speaking from its heart, the ecstatic experience of absence and failure--Sehnsucht.
Objective1) develop an understanding of "Romanticism", of Romantic poetics and its reflexive as well as ironic forms of communicating and knowing
2) read the literary texts in question very carefully so as to get to know that mode of perception and description which since Ludwig Tieck, Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Joseph von Eichendorff, etc. is called "Romantic"
3) participate in class by listening carefully and also through critical questions and feedback. This third point is particularly important because the lectures will serve as the basis for a small book, "A Short Introduction to the Literature of German Romanticism."
4) Since this lecture is part of "Science in Perspective" (SiP), we will also explore the relation between Romanticism and modern science.
Economics
NumberTitleTypeECTSHoursLecturers
851-0626-01LInternational Aid and Development Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 40

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of economics
W2 credits2VK. Harttgen, C. Humphrey
AbstractThe course gives economic and empirical foundations for a sound understanding of the instruments, prospects and limitations of international development aid.
ObjectiveStudents have a theoretically and empirically sound understanding of the prospects and limitations of international development aid. Students are able to critically discuss the various aid instruments of bi-and multilateral donors and NGOs.
ContentIntroduction to the Determinants of Underdevelopment; History of Aid; Aid and Development: Theories and Empirics; Political Economy of Aid; Experience and Impact of Aid; New Instruments of Aid: e.g. Micro-Finance, Budget-Support; Fair-Trade.
LiteratureArticles and book abstracts will be uploaded to a course website.
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