This album contains fascinating and engrossing interviews with several leading philosophers concerning, primarily, the exploration of four topics: emotion; thought and language; imagination and creativity; consciousness. The interviews contain lively debates from differing philosophical viewpoints, discussions about theoretical thought experiments and the examination of theories developed by philosophers such as Aristotle, Decartes, Galileo, and Hume as well as predictions regarding the future of philosophy. This material forms part of the course AA308 Thought and experience.

Just how controversial was Charles Darwin? Was he a reluctant revolutionary? And how did he reconcile his religious convictions with his scientific values? When Darwin's theories were first published in the nineteenth century, he initially felt that the whole scientific establishment was against him. It took many years for Darwin to finally pluck up the courage to reveal his revolutionary theories and he only did so when a fellow scientist seemed to be about publish something remarkably, and coincidentally, very similar. This album puts Charles Darwin into context and explores the complex moral environment in which he worked, and in particular the perceived clash between evolutionary theory and traditional creationist beliefs. Jim Moore, Professor of the History of Science at The Open University, leads this exploration of Darwin and his times.

The tracks on this album were produced by The Open University in collaboration with the British Council. They form part of Darwin Now, a global initiative celebrating the life and work of Charles Darwin and the impact his ideas about evolution continue to have on today’s world. © The British Council 2009.

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Please note: This is course is due to be archived on Wednesday 30th November. You can study the course up until this date. For learners who have completed the course, the Statement of Participation will remain in your learner records in your OpenLearn profile.
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The Big Bang is said to be the origin of our Universe. This free course, The evolving Universe, will help you to comprehend what happened in the moments immediately after the Big Bang and during the initial cooling period. You will also gain an understanding of how this event turned in to the Universe we live in today.

Thanks to cutting-edge radio and infra-red astronomy, our understanding of the universe is moving very fast. Ideas about black holes and cosmic jets are constantly being refined as new discoveries are made using new, more powerful telescopes. This album explores the incredible discoveries and theories developed in recent years and introduces the astronomical observatories, space missions and satellites that have made it possible. The 12 video tracks reveal that our sun, though essential for our existence, is an unremarkable member of the stellar menagerie. They describe how astronomers study the structure and dynamics of our galaxy, the Milky Way and they introduce the challenges inherent in mapping the geometry and expansion of the universe. This material forms part of the course S282 Astronomy.