Lecture 1 - Week 1 - Introduction

Question 1

What is a “reductionist approach”?

Answer 1

Reducing things down to basic mathematical equations,
and laws, that account for most phenomena possible.

Question 2

What makes reductionism a bottom-up approach?

Answer 2

The attempt to understand complex phenomena by breaking them down to the simplest parts.

Question 3

What is a systems approach?

Answer 3

The attempt to understand complex phenomena by viewing a set of interacting parts as a whole.

Question 4

Natural systems are _________________ ______ : mass and energy flows into, through, and out of them.

Answer 4

thermodynamically open

Question 5

The external forces acting on natural systems keeps them in a constant state of motion (____________) with their parts interacting and feeding back off each
other.

Answer 5

disequilibrium

Question 6

The early belief that “dramatic changes in the fossil record were caused by total extinction resulting from catastrophes followed by successive creations of new species” is a hallmark of what theory?

Answer 6

Catastrophism

Question 7

Catastrophism was an idea generated by?

Answer 7

Georges Cuvier

Question 8

Another early idea about geological history was that is followed uniform shifts through time was developed by…?

Answer 8

James Hutton and Charles Lyell