In recent years, a new area of inquiry known as complexity studies has emerged in the natural sciences. While the study of complexity has begun to have an impact on the social sciences (especially economics, political theory, and anthropology), students of the arts and humanities are only beginning to recognize the importance of this new approach to natural, social, and cultural phenomena. In this seminar, we will explore various aspects of the problem of complexity that are particularly relevant for understanding contemporary developments in society and culture. In addition to examining emergence of complexities in the natural sciences, we will consider how the study of complex adaptive systems provides an effective theoretical perspective from which to interpret important aspects of emerging network culture. The works to be considered will include: Michel Serres, The Parasite, Douglas Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach, Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Giles Deleuze and Feliz Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Strengers, Order out of Chaos, John Holland, Emergence: From Chaos to Order, Murray Gell-Mann, The Quark and the Jaguar, Stuart Kauffman, At Home in the Universe, Paul Ormerod, Butterfly Economics, and J.A. Kelso, Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior. Requirements: 20- to 25-page paper. Prerequisites: One or more of the following: Religion 101, 301; Philosophy 101, 201, 209; English, 230, 373; Biology 101; Chemistry 101; Physics 101; Computer Science, 105, 108; Mathematics 180, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 30.