NDI 100 Perspectives of Time Dr. Amy C.
Berger
Summer 2004: June 7-July
2 Dr.
Daryl Close
Rev.
Essays
Each week you
will complete a short critical essay over a topic you choose from a list provided.
These essay topics will generally require that you synthesize materials either
from class, outside experiences, or readings, and help you think creatively,
critically, and self-consciously about the subject material. These essays
should be short (1-2 pages) and concise.
Your essays
should show that you have mastered skills from English 101:
1. Concise title;
2. Introduction, including thesis statement;
3. Paragraphs that support the thesis statement with clear and logical
arguments;
4. Conclusion that is not a
mere summary or reiteration of preceding paragraphs; present your culminating
argument and/or provide future direction on this topic.
Each essay will
be assessed on a pass/fail basis. The first two essays are each worth 10% of
your course grade. In the third week, you will choose one of your previous two
essays to revise and expand into a slightly longer essay worth 15%. Each essay
will be graded independently of the other two. A satisfactory grade on the
first version of your essay will not guarantee a satisfactory grade for
exactly the same essay in the third week. You may, however, rewrite this third
essay as many times as you wish.
Please submit
your essays in both paper and email format. Attach the Word document to
an email to aberger@heidelberg.edu
Essay 1. 11
June: Friday morning prior to departure for
Essay 2. 17
June: Thursday morning prior to lecture
Essay 3. 23
June: Wednesday morning prior to lecture
This is the final date this
essay will be accepted. You may rewrite this essay as many times as you wish.
Turn in drafts as you complete
them.
Topics for Essay 1: (Please indicate the question
number at the top of your paper.)
1. The
historical Macbeth ruled for 17 years (1040-1057), but Shakespeare's play will
make you think otherwise. What techniques does the playwright use to
alter your perception of time and/or to make the flow of action
convincing/effective? Reflect upon several events or character
developments to convey your insights. (Did Shakespeare succeed in making
this portrayal of time credible?)
2. Character
development over time is one of the staple features of drama. Probably
you read this play in high school and think you remember the two lead
characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. But now you are older, and you will
see LIVE actors portraying these characters! Identify at least three
character changes, and discuss them. (Be sure to take their final
situations into account. And if you see TWO different performances of the
play, DO compare/contrast portrayals!)
3. Almost
all of the kings (and one queen) of
4. Describe
Macbeth's theory of time, using details from the play to support your argument!
5. Does
Bishop Ussher use the Scientific Method (in any sense) in his search for a date
for the creation of Earth? Defend your answer with examples from Ussher's
research techniques.
6. Are
there any problems with assuming a unique Newtonian absolute time ruler for the
measure of Earth's time clock? Explain.
7. When
comparing scales of time (subdivisions of a time continuum), are all scales
necessarily compatible with each other? (Can they reasonably be
"hooked" together?) Provide
examples of scales in your answer.
8. Compare the tensed or
commonsense theory of time with the tenseless or “block” theory of time. Briefly state the strengths and weaknesses of
each theory. Which account is most
persuasive to you? Why? Is your view consistent with contemporary
physics? Explain. Defend your position.
9. A muon is a particle
similar to an electron, only heavier.
They have a half-life of about two microseconds (one millionth of a
second). Muons are formed in the upper
reaches of the atmosphere (≈13 miles up) when cosmic rays strike the nuclei
of atoms. Since light itself travels
less than ¾ mile in four
microseconds, we should not expect to see muons make it very far towards the
ground before “dying” (they decay into electrons). Amazingly, muons can be easily observed alive
and kicking on the Earth’s surface. How
is this possible? Your explanation
should include reference to some of the basic principles of the special theory
of relativity. Hint: You do not need to apply any mathematics here—just
basic reasoning together with the special theory of relativity--but you might
want to review pp. 89-93 in Craig Callender and Ralph Edney, Introducing Time. (This question was inspired by research
discussed in Paul Davies, About Time.)
10. Explain the difference
between logical possibility and physical possibility, providing clear examples
of a state of affairs that is logically impossible, and a state of affairs that
is logically possible, but physically impossible. What does this distinction have to do with
time travel? Explain. Do you think that the “Book that No One
Wrote” case (see Craig Callender and Ralph Edney, Introducing Time) is logically possible? Why? Who
wrote the book? Why? Defend your position.
Topics for Essay 2: (Please indicate the question number at the top of your paper!)
11. Unconformities are places where Earth’s recording tape of history—rocks—has a
section missing. Compare this historical record with the holiday video tape
analogy we have discussed in class and discuss how, in both cases, you might
determine how much time passed and what occurred during that time for which the
record is missing.
12. Uniformitarianism, or the idea that we may assume ongoing geologic change has occurred similarly in the
past, is a key concept to geologists. We have already discussed the idea that
some geologic changes (such as extinction-level meteor impacts) have not been
observed in the present yet we infer their occurrence in the past. Are there
other such unobserved geologic processes that have occurred in the past? Is the
converse also true; namely, are processes ongoing today that have not acted in
some parts or all of geologic history? Provide at least one example.
13. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the characters’ concept
and “use” of time appear to be connected with their desire. Duke Orsino seems willing to wait for Olivio
until Cesario appears. Olivia vows to mourn for 7
years until Cesario appears. Sir Toby Belch gladly
uses Sir Andrew Aguecheek for funs and mockery (after
convincing him that his courtship of Olivia is feasible), until Cesario appears. Antonio was content to stay out of
14. David Hare’s play “Amy’s
View” will be performed at 7:30 (£4 for students) at the Taylor-Burton Theatre
on Gloucester Street, Tu-Sat, June 15-19. First performed in June 1997, with
(now Dame) Judi Dench in the role of Amy’s mother Esme, the play is listed as “between 1979 and 1995.” The
play’s epigraph is a quotation from Seneca: “When shall we live, if not now?”
Act I begins in 1979, act II occurs 6 years later in 1985, act III 8 years
later in 1993. After viewing the play, develop a thesis which involves the
thesis “The Concept of Time.”
17. In 1885, just three years
after the death of Charles Darwin, the Church of England approved publication
of a revised Authorized English Bible that did not contain the Ussher chronology.
According to Martin Gorst, Measuring Eternity, whose scientific
research do you think probably had the most influence on the theologians’
decision? Why? Defend your position.
18. Carefully explain the
connections among Ernest Rutherford, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), the sun’s
heat, the Earth’s heat, and the age of the Earth. What does any of this have to do with
19. In Craig Callender and Ralph Edney, Introducing Time, there are pictures of
a bull and a china shop (p. 135). What
is the point of these pictures? What
does this have to do with the Second Law of Thermodynamics (the law of
entropy)? Are the pictures on p. 137
possible, according to the Second Law?
Why? What bearing does the Second
Law have on the nature of time? Does it
make sense to you that the arrow of time might reverse? Why?
Defend your position.