The Darwinian Revolution marks one of the greatest changes in our conception of nature and our place within it, challenging received views on religion, history, culture, teleology, essence, knowledge, and ethics. This class explores the historical and philosophical background to Darwin’s great contribution as well as its consequences for science, society, and beyond.
[/reveal] [reveal heading=”Syllabus“]Darwinian Evolution
- January 7 Syllabus
- January 14 Darwin Origin, Chs. 3 & 4
Bowler – Evolution (‘A New Classification’ p. 59-63,
‘Erasmus Darwin & Lamarck’ p. 76-84, )
Bowler – Evolution Ch. 6 “The Origins of Darwinism” - January 21 Bowler – Evolution Ch. 9 “The Eclipse of Darwinism”
Plutynski – “The Modern Synthesis” - January 28 Sterelny & Griffiths – “The Received View”
Laland et. al. & Wray et. al. “Does evolutionary theory need a rethink?”
Darwinian Revolution
- February 4 Bowler – Evolution Ch. 8 “Religious and Moral Problems”
Excerpts from the Dover Trial - February 11 Mayr – “The Idea of Teleology”
The Great Chain of Being Gould & Lewontin – “The Spandrels of San Marcos…” - February 18 Mayr – “Typological versus population thinking”
Population Thinking Gannett – To Be Announced - February 25 Dawkins – “Accumulating Small Change”
Eldredge & Gould – “Punctuated Equilibrium comes of Age.” - March 4 Dawkins – selections from The Selfish Gene
Gould – “Fallacy of Selfish Genes” - March 11 Doolittle – “Uprooting the tree of life”
(Guest Lecture) Doolittle – To be Announced
Darwinian Extensions
- March 18 Bowler –Evolution Ch. 10 “The Social Implications of Evolutionism”
- March 25 Laland & Brown – “Evolutionary Psychology”
Sterelny – The Evolved Apprentice, selections - April 1 Dawkins – “Memes: the new replicators”
Laland & Brown – “Gene-culture coevolution” - April 8 Callebaut – “Beyond Generalized Darwinism”
Chaisson – “Evolution, Broadly Considered”
