Moodle@Warwick

This course is a first introduction to philosophy of mathematics, via one of our most fascinating and perplexing concepts: the infinite. We encounter the concept of infinity in myriad ways. In Zeno’s paradoxes of time, space, and motion, the idea of infinite division is used to argue in favour of a radical monism. The ancient atomists Leucippus and Democritus claimed that the universe consisted of an infinity of atoms moving in an infinite void, and contemporary cosmology still considers the issue of whether the universe is infinite to be an open question.

But what does it mean for something to be infinite? It is mathematics that offers us the precise definitions that let us begin to answer this question, and thus in mathematics that many of the most important questions concerning the infinite arise. Do the infinite structures that we talk about in mathematics really exist? If so, how can we have knowledge of them? Is it even coherent to talk about the truly infinite, or does it fall victim to paradox? This course will investigate these and other questions by engaging with the ideas of philosophers and mathematicians from across history, with a focus on the reception of Georg Cantor’s theory of sets, and the crisis in the foundations of mathematics that it precipitated.

Photography is ubiquitous. Advertising, the internet and social media depend upon it. With this come worries about image-manipulation and so-called “fake news.” Prior to the worries provoked by digital imaging, photography was generally taken to be a reliable source of knowledge about the world: assuming that images have not been digitally manipulated or misleadingly staged, we have reason to believe what we see in forensic, scientific and medical photographs, if not advertising or propaganda—certainly by comparison to what we see in hand-made images. We rely on crime scene photographs for a reason. Call this photography’s (relative) “epistemic advantage:” It depends on the intuition that machine-generated images are free from certain kinds of unreliability (selective attention, false beliefs, etc) that human beings suffer from. 

But photography is also taken to be aesthetically rewarding: it is widely collected and exhibited in museums, and we appreciate different photographer’s styles or oeuvres for different reasons—not least because different photographers and different schools of photography depict the world in very different ways, focusing on different subject matters, and stressing some features of the scene while suppressing others. We appreciate art in general for these kinds of reasons, and photography is no different in this regard. Call this photography’s “aesthetic capacity.” But note that such capacities are precisely what photography’s “epistemic advantage” depends on bypassing—by providing an ostensibly objective, or “belief-independent” recording of the world.  

So it looks as if the reasoning, and underlying intuitions, behind attributing epistemic and aesthetic capacities to photography conflict. If so, both cannot be true and one will need to be surrendered. This has generated debate between “orthodox” and “new theorists” of photography over the past decade. Orthodox theorists foreground photography’s epistemic capacities; new theorists stress its aesthetic capacities. Spoiler: I’m a new theorist, of sorts. One reason for being a new theorist is that it enables us to take the intentions, beliefs and other mental states of photographers seriously, and this opens up the possibility of using photography for various artistic, ethical and political purposes—in addition to its well documented scientific, medical and forensic uses—some of which we will look at on this course. The challenge for new theorists will be how to account in turn for photography’s epistemic capacities in manner consistent their claims for its aesthetic capacities.

*This module website are currently being updated for the 20/21 academic year* 

Welcome to the Public Policy for 21st Century Challenges course for the academic year 2020/2021!

Lectures begin in week 1 of the autumn term and finish in week 20, which is the last week of the spring term in the following year. The exceptions are weeks 6 and 16, which are PAIS Reading Weeks. Please note that there are no seminars in week 1.

Please note that the seminars begin in week 2 of the autumn term and finish in week 20, which is the last week of the spring term in the following year. The exceptions are weeks 6 and 16, which are PAIS Reading Weeks.

Welcome to the Gender and Development Moodle page! 

The module is taught through one lecture and one seminar each week. The lectures provide an introduction and overview of the topic under discussion and the seminars explore the main issues in more detail.

Please be aware that there is NO seminars in both week 1 and week 2, but you will need to complete a group exercise before week 3 (detailed instructions regarding the exercise, please see announcement). 

**Seminar classes begin in Week 3** of the autumn term and finish in Week 20, which is the last week of the spring term in the following year. The exceptions are Weeks 6 and 16, which are PAIS Reading Weeks.

The main teaching part of the course is scheduled to finish in Week 20 to allow you to complete essays over the Easter break. When we reconvene in the summer term, we will be holding revision classes.

in office room E1.15

Introduction

Welcome to the website for PO380: 'Britain and the War on Terror'.

The module director is Dr Sam Cooke

Email: s.cooke.2@warwick.ac.uk

Should you have any questions or problems, please do not hesitate to come and see me during my advice and feedback hours.

Lectures begin in week 1 of the autumn term (and seminars in week 2) and the course finishes in week 20 (i.e. the last week of the spring term in the following year). The exceptions are weeks 6 and 16, which are PAIS Reading Weeks.

Welcome to Fundamentals in Quantitative Research Methods. All essential information about this module is in the Syllabus below. In the sections below you will find more precise information and documents 5 or 6 days ahead of each class.

Do not forget to refer to general information about your course provided by your respective department. In PAIS for example, this is the MA Handbook, which provides precise guidance on essay writing, and many other useful topics.

For personal issues whose solution is neither on Moodle or in your MA Handbook, please come and meet the lecturer (Philippe Blanchard) or your seminar tutor (P.B. or Alvaro Cabrejas Egea) during their weekly advice and feedback hours (to be indicated here soon). We are pleased to help as much as we can. If you cannot come during the A&F hours, just make an appointment for another time over email.

Please find us here Course: Researcher Development Online (RDO) | Moodle@Warwick

This SLS/WMS Waste Management and Safety at Gibbet Hill/  Innovation Campus, Stratford-upon-Avon (Wellesbourne) course covers the processes, procedures and decision-making in purchasing and using materials for the laboratory. 

The course covers good decision choices that will manage, reduce waste and increase the safety of users. 

When people think about media these days, the internet and social media immediately spring to mind. But of course, these are only the latest developments in a long history of humans communicating to ever larger numbers, about a wider variety things, over greater expanses of space and time. This module surveys that history from a sociological perspective, looking at how people respond to the form and the content of media representations through the lens of sociological theory and empirical research. The module starts with the early theories of mass media and their impact on people’s lives. Step by step, the module introduces key developments in the history of media research. Ultimately, we arrive at the role of social media in society. We consider how the highly distributed and democratised nature of the internet and social media is transforming society and people’s lives on an evolving basis. The module asks you to consider your own experience of media and to critical interrogate its role in society from a sociological perspective.

Sociology of Education is a sub-discipline of Sociology that takes a critical and analytical look at the design, development, experience and outcomes of the education system. Over the course of the module we will take the UK education system as a case study for helping us to understand the ways in which political, social, moral and economic agendas have shaped (and continue to shape) schools and universities. Paying close attention to key policy-making, we will ask critical questions about the role and purpose of education in relation to wider society. What kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing are permitted or excluded in traditional educational settings? Does education challenge or reproduce social inequalities? How do young people and teachers experience education?

Welcome to Gender, Crime and Justice,

 This module aims to provide a comprehensive and critical understanding of the relationship between gender, crime and justice. The module will explore the  sociological  and  criminological approaches to the study of deviance, gender and crime in contemporary society. You  will be presented with a range of theoretical and conceptual issues around the theme of gender, crime and justice including feminist writing on the meaning and relevance of gender. The course will highlight some of the key issues when exploring crime, victimisation and criminal justice in relation to gender. The content will draw on relevant policy material in this field.