Rosen discusses the relationship between the humanities and the sciences as framed by the second-century Greek physician, surgeon, researcher, and philosopher Galen in his work That the Best Physician Is Also a Philosopher. One of the most accomplished medical researchers in antiquity, Galen influenced the development of disciplines including anatomy, physiology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic. He included poetry and music in his list of “high” and “useful” arts along with medicine, mathematics, and rhetoric. 

What does it take to be a charismatic leader? Collins is a social theorist whose research includes the macro-historical sociology of political and economic change; micro-sociology, including face-to-face interaction; and the sociology of intellectuals and social conflict. His study of violence used data from photos and videos as well as close ethnographic observations to show the micro-techniques and contingencies through which some persons won, lost, were stalemated, or kept their distance.

In the U.S.’s increasingly pluralistic society, the idea that works of art should be discussed in separate groups based on a perception of a shared “identity” among the objects’ makers, rather than on the works’ thematic or conceptual affinities, seems increasingly regressive. Shaw will examine the historical, curatorial, and critical strategies and tactics for using such markers as race, gender, sexuality, and regional identity to interpret art today.

Michael Horowitz studies international conflict issues, especially military innovation by state and non-state actors, the role of leaders in international politics, and the intersection of religion and international relations. He spent 2013 at the Pentagon on a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.

Human languages appear to differ tremendously. But looking past the surface cacophony, we find deep commonalities and strict limits on variation. Legate discusses the progress made towards answering the question: What is a possible human language?

What do we know about what the public thinks about evolution? What don’t we know yet? And why? Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael Weisberg offers some possible explanations.

What is ISIS? Where did it come from, what does it want, and how is the group's emergence related to broader political trends in the Middle East? And what does this mean for the West?

A political philosopher, Tan specializes in problems of global justice, nationalism, value pluralism, equality, and human rights. In his latest book Justice, Institutions, and Luck, he identifies what is at stake and argues that our obligation to seek fair distribution of goods is global in scope.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea is the first time one European nation has claimed territory from another since World War II. What happened? What will happen? In this roundtable discussion, a multidisciplinary group of Penn Arts and Sciences experts tackle the big questions, give historical context, and discuss Putin's next steps.

Third on Forbes’s 2013 list of the world’s most powerful people, Xi Jinping is the paramount political and military leader of China. He has presented himself as a new kind of ruler, initiating economic reforms and a broad anti-corruption drive. “Xi came to power with a reformist agenda: to make the Communist Party far better at leading the nation,” says Russell Leigh Moses, dean of academics and faculty at The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies, in The Wall Street Journal. “That doesn’t mean loosening the restraints of one-party rule or granting political options to the masses.”