Courses

AEON is primarily a postgraduate research and mentoring institute, but is committed also to teaching at a number of other levels. AEON's teaching programs dovetail with the present structure of the Tertiary education programs at the University of Cape Town and at other Universities. AEON has an evolving internship program of its own to address the need for a greater output of quality postgraduate students and cutting-edge Earth Systems research and analytical technology.

Public Education

AEON engages with the public to foster life-long education in Earth Stewardship issues through writings, regular seminars and annual summer schools.

Consilience: synergy between the sciences, arts & governance

An Iphakade project promoting discourse across the spectrum of human endeavour

A DARWIN TRILOGY

In celebration of the bicentenary of Charles Darwin (1809-1882); and the 150th anniversary of his book  ‘The Origin of Species’ (published 1859)—the incendiary work which forms the bedrock of our understanding of nature.  The trilogy, in line with the Iphakade program, is a consilient  exploration of our globalising civilisation, with the emphasis shifting from the past, to the present, to the future.

The concepts covered here form the basis for further work in the project. We are particularly interested in encouraging students and scholars who would like to pursue topics in the co-history of the sciences and arts in the context of our evolving civilisation. 

Past. ‘Nothing by mere authority’

An article exploring the clash between the sciences and religion

John Anderson traces the co-evolution of science and religion, in 20sections, through the past thousand years in Western history. Each section highlights a seminal leap in the progress of science from the year 1000 AD to the current time. And at each of these turning points (critical nodes), we reflect on the response of the Church and on the shifting religious sentiment of the scientific fraternity. Node 7 (1660) in the progression brings in the Royal Society of London whose motto, ‘Nothing by mere authority’ lends its title to the article. Node 12 (1859) introduces Charles Darwin and his ‘Origin of Species’. His theory of evolution through natural selection forms the unmistakable watershed in the vision we hold of our position in nature. Awareness that we are integral to nature and not outside or above it, has dramatically shifted the balance of our spirituality.

Present. ‘I am so utterly destitute of an ear’

A play about Charles Darwin and the arts; more broadly about the synergy between science, art and government; more broadly about the consilience of everything.

The play, in 4 acts and 16 scenes, follows a conversation between 10 post-graduate students from around the world. The students have been gathered—unknown to themselves—to explore holistically the world of their past, present and future. The venue selected for this discourse is the Sandwalk at Darwin’s Downe House on the outskirts of London. The date, the 28th August 2008, is a date of symbolic depth. The Downe Ten portray the brilliance, vision, freedom and hopes of youth. They symbolise the union of nations and the union between the fields of human thought and action. Their conversation embraces our evolving global civilisation, in effect an evolving human ecosystem that is becoming exponentially more dissociated from the tree of life that spawned it.

• Related Documents
  • Document: utterley destitute of an ear (PDF 871KB)
    

Future. ‘Coincidence and Consilience’

A short novel continuing our exploration of consilience.

Through this novel, in 10 chapters, John Anderson resolves further the plot of the Darwinian play. We build here on the concept of consilience, the ‘jumping together’ of all things. At the heart of the novel is a dialogue between the 21st and 19th centuries, between the students of the 20th C, the Downe Ten, and ten towering figures of the 19thC, the Darwin Century. This dectet of characters, as for our students, represent the major fields of human endeavour—from the sciences to the arts to government. Darwin appears at the centre of the action, engaging, so to speak, with both the modern students, and his fellow makers of the earlier century. He forms the link between the two groups. A three-dimensional holistic human tapestry is woven. A sense of how we might aim to run affairs through the present century—a century during which we could gain, or lose, everything—emerges.

• Related Documents
  • Document: 02 Romantic Fountainhead 1800-1809 (PDF 109KB)
    
  • Document: 01 Darwin Century 100 (PDF 74KB)
    

School Education

AEON has incorporated EarthWISE, an in-service teacher training programme that runs rural workshops and develops new materials to supplement the new 'Earth and Beyond' curriculum. EarthWISE operates out of the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein.

 

• Related Documents
  • Document: earthwise report june-aug08 (PDF 57KB)
    
  • Document: Prieska Science Weekend (PDF 986KB)
    

Undergraduate Course in Earth Stewardship Science

AEON, in conjunction with the Department of Geological Sciences, teaches a half year Earth Stewardship Science course aimed at students from all faculties, at all stages of their academic career. This is a cross-disciplinary course about how the Earth works and how exploitation of Earth's resources affect our lives and future socio-economic welfare.
This is the GEO1007s course.

• Related Documents
  • Document: GEO1007s-syllabus (PDF 114KB)
    

Masters in Earth Stewardship Science

AEON intends to introduce a Masters degree in Earth Stewardship Science in 2009/2010. The course will be open to full time students and will be based on short modular course-work components and a small thesis research project.