Graduate Institute
Santa Fe
Spring 2008 Mathematics and Natural Science Seminar Reading List
The reading assignment for the first seminar should be completed before the first class meeting.
Week One
1. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things Books I, II, III to line 580
2. On the Nature of Things Books III to end, IV, V (lines 1-235, 771 to end), VI (lines 1-95, 1090 to end)
Week Two
3. Plato, Timaeus to 58c.
Ptolemy, “The System of the World” (photocopy available in bookstore)
- Aristotle, Physics Book I 184a9-184b14, 189b30-192b7; Book II 192b8-195b30
Week Three
5. Physics Book II 195b31-200b11; Book III 200b12-202b29
6. Physics Book III 202b30-208a25; Book IV 208a28-213a10
Week Four
7. Physics Book IV 213a11-224a17
8. Physics Book VIII 250b11-260a19, 265a13-267b27
Week Five
9. Ptolemy, Almagest Book I, 1‑8; Book III, 3 (first page only of III, 3, up to and including the figures for the two hypotheses). There are many copies of Ptolemy available in Meem Library, as well as in the bookstore.
10. Galileo, Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, “Author’s Dedication,” “To the Reader,” “The First Day,” through page 68 in the Stillman Drake translation
Week Six
11. Two Chief World Systems, “The First Day” and “The Second Day,” pages 68-131
12. Two Chief World Systems, “The Second Day,” pages 131-188
Week Seven
13. Darwin, Origin of Species, First edition; historical sketch, introduction and chapters I-III (Penguin edition only)
14. Origin of Species, chapters IV, XIV
Week Eight
- Freud, “Note on a Case of Obsessional Neurosis [the Rat Man]” in Three Case Histories
- Freud, “A Note on the Unconscious in Psychoanalysis,” “On Narcissism: An Introduction” and “Mourning and Melancholia” in General Psychological Theory