While the U.S. Constitution is constantly invoked to justify how the country should be governed, it actually provides very few specifics on how that should be done. Instead, the designed ambiguities of the document require the imaginative powers of its citizenry to interpret it and decide which laws should be implemented and how they should be enforced. Episode guest is George Thomas, professor of American Political Institutions at Claremont McKenna College. Produced with the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College.

Given the option to plug into a world totally free from conflict and struggle, most would choose to remain in their current reality. A true utopia would be too boring, stifling—with no problems to solve, there would be no outlet for creativity, for the imagination. Episode guest is John Farrell, professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. Produced with the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College.

If a person spends their entire life seeing only in black and white, is it possible for them to truly know what it would be like to experience color? Philosophers have debated this for decades, but one thing they have often overlooked is the power of the imagination. It is a skill, and like any other skill it can be honed, perhaps enough to allow one to achieve deep knowledge of an experience they’ve never had. Episode guest is Amy Kind, professor of philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. Produced with the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College.

Media are increasingly monopolizing attention: Your mind is prevented from wandering, from generating thoughts, having associations, coming up with ideas. Over time, this dulls the creative faculties and weakens the power of imagination, which is essential for the creation of art…as well as for a clear perception of reality. Episode guest is Radhika Koul, professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. Produced with the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College.

Science is not some purely rationalist endeavor that exists in an isolated realm of objective observations and hard data that can deliver absolute truths. It is built on and intertwined with the modes of analysis, intellectual history, and ways of knowing in the humanities. 0:00 Intro 2:19 Part 1 –– Metaphors We Live By 5:52 Part 2 –– Metaphors in Science, an Ancient Paradox 10:32 Part 3 –– Embryology 23:10 Part 4 –– The Clockwork Universe 32:04 Part 5 –– The History of a Dead Metaphor: Cell 44:00 Part 6 –– Black Holes 51:10 Part 7 –– The Body 57:50 Part 8 –– Pain, in 78 Adjectives 1:05:29 Part 9 –– Natural Selection 1:09:47 Part 10 –– A New Metaphor for Science 1:20:22 Part 11 –– The Solar System Model of the Atom 1:24:35 Part 12 –– Uniformitarianism 1:31:35 Part 13 –– Glia, the Gendering of a Cell 1:39:15 Part 14 –– Light Bulbs and Seeds 1:46:04 Part 15 –– War and Disease, the Domination of a Metaphor 1:51:26 Part 16 –– Social Darwinism 1:55:05 Part 17 –– The Universe 2:02:08 Part 18 –– Anthropomorphism An Inexact Science is a production of The World According to Sound. It’s part of our series, “Ways of Knowing,” audio works dedicated to humanities research and thought. It was made in collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Institute on the Formation of Knowledge. Special thanks to Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, who spearheaded the project at the University of Chicago. Editorial support from Hans Buetow. Academic advising by Andrew Hicks. Voicing work by Tina Antolini. Mathematical consultant, Steven Strogatz. Intro music by our friends, Matmos. And to see a complete list of musicians used in this show, visit our website: www.theworldaccordingtosound.org

The first in a 9-part series dedicated to deep, intentional listening. Episodes of "The Listening Experience" will be released about every four months.

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With the telescopes of the 20th century, astronomers began to see a universe that just so happened to resemble the cosmos as described by a 13th century Italian poet…Dante Alighieri.

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