| 2005 | with Dr. F. David Peat |
21-28 April 2005
(To see David Peat's Course on Synchronicity)
One Hundred Years of Relativity
This week-long workshop will range over many of the issues discussed in David Peat's books, essays and on his web site. The aim is to explore the various ways in which the new paradigms and the new stories that are being told by science have an impact on our lives, society and values. Are we beginning to see the world in new ways? Is a new thinking emerging? How are the visions of the artist and the scientist related? Are we moving towards a new integration of knowledge? How is this changing the way we think about ourselves and our society?
Note 2005 marks the hundredth anniversary of Einstein's first paper on the theory of relativity. This year the course will include a non-technical overview of Einstein's theory and contributions
The course will proceed via a combination of lectures and discussions. When scientific ideas are involved these will be explained and explored in a non-technical way. This course is therefore suitable for laypeople and anyone interested in the history and evolution of ideas. It has been given since 2001 and has seen many stimulating and productive discussions. For further information email info@paricenter.com.
A few of the participants comments can be found on this site - click here.
A reading list is posted in the library section of this website.
Click here to enroll.
See also David Peat's course on Synchronicity
The course will be far ranging and will draw on some of the topics listed below - the actual choice made will reflect the particular interests of participants.
Paradigm Shifts
Changes in European society and consciousness from the Early Middle Ages to the present day.
13th Century - new ways to represent the world
Renaissance and the Rise of Science
Newtonian world view and the Rise of Mechanism
Revolutions in the Twentieth Century
Perception and the Mind
Theories as ways of perceiving the world
How objective is science?
Can science embrace values and qualities?
Visual Perception: the eye and brain
Context dependence in perception
Whitehead and the way the mind "sees" and understands the world.
Jung's Rational Functions
What is "understanding"?
Quantum Theory
The stories of Planck, Bohr, Pauli and Heisenberg
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: what does it mean?
The Observer is the Observed: undivided wholeness
Schrodinger's Cat Paradox: The collapse of the wave function
Chance in Quantum Theory
The Copenhagen Interpretation
Einstein-Bohr debates
Is the quantum world a "veiled reality" or is there no reality?
What are the limits to what can be said
EPR Paradox, Bell's Theorem and Non-locality
Crisis between Relativity and Quantum Theory
Symmetry Breaking
Theories of Everything: Superstrings and Twistors
Pre-space
A New Order in Physics?
David Bohm's Contributions
The Plasma State
The Implicate Order
The Quantum Potential, Active Information and proto-mind
Dialogue
The Role of Language and the Rheomode
Relativity
The Special Theory (1905)
Space-time
The General Theory(1915)
Bending of light and a curved universe
The Twin paradox
The Big Bang and the history of the universe
Black Holes
Missing Mass of the Universe
Language
How does language relate to the world?
Fauconnier's "mental spaces"
Linguistic approaches of Kourzybski, Russell and Wittgenstein.
"We are suspended in language" (Bohr)
Bohm and the Rheomode
The relationship between language and world view (Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis)
The Blackfoot world and their language
Alternative World Views
European consciousness in the early Middle Ages
The world of the Blackfoot and Iroquois
To what extent does science present us with facts about the world and to what extent is it a story created by our society?
Creativity
What is the nature of creativity in nature and mind?
Creativity as: "making it new", "acts of renewal", "making it whole"
Creativity and embodiment
Dionysus and Apollo in the act of creation
Alchemical Cycles in the body
The role of beauty in physics and art
Chaos Theory
The basic ideas of chaos theory and their applications in society, organizations and everyday life
Self-organization and Open systems
Limit cycles, Strange Attractors and Fractals
Chaos as infinite order
Limits to description, prediction and control
Society
What can the study of natural systems teach us about ethical behaviour?
Can the lessons of the new sciences lead us towards a new Gentle Action?
Art and Science
General discussion of the scientific and artistic approaches and the possibilities for dialogue between them.
From Certainty to Uncertainty
Revolutions in twentieth century thought including.
Postmodernism, Godel's Theorem, post-modern physics
Synchronicity: Jung and Pauli
Some basic ideas in Jung
The encounter of Jung and Pauli
The "Irrational in Nature"
Synchronicity
Matter and Psyche
In light of the range of ideas to be covered, the workshop will proceed in a gentle way. In addition to lecture periods with time for questions, there will be group discussions and one-on-one sessions when participants have a chance to discuss, in depth, issues of particular interest to them.
Note: Absorbing and discussing new ideas can be exhausting. The fourth day of course will be an open day for those who wish to do a little sight-seeing. Participants may also wish to engage in some art work or creative writing during the course.
Course Cost: 1,300 Euros
Costs cover tuition, accommodation and all meals (traditional Tuscan fare; vegetarians can be catered for), beginning with dinner on the day of arrival (21 April and ending with lunch on the final day (28 April.)
See also David Peat's course on Synchronicity
