Purpose
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, generally shortened to The Origin of Species, is one of the two or three most influential science books ever published. But unlike the case with other science books, The Origin, published in 1859, is also of profound political importance. Part of this political importance—the implications of Darwin's theory for religious explanations of the diversity of life—is well understood by all socially aware citizens. But there is much less awareness of the political implications of controversies within the science of evolutionary biology founded by Darwin.
In this class I will explicate and explore both the "outside" and "inside" political implications of the science launched by the Origin, and ask the students to evaluate them.
Class Content
I. The original theory and its context
A. Historical and scientific context of the Origin
Reading: 1. Chapter One of the Book of Genesis
2. Extracts from William Paley's Natural Theology
3. Extracts from Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology
4. Stephen Jay Gould, "The Freezing of Noah"
B. The theory
Reading: On the Origin of Species, first edition
C. Reception of the theory in the nineteenth century
Reading: 1. Gould, "False Premise, Good Science"
2. Gould "Fleeming Jenkin Revisited"
3. Gould, "Not Necessarily a Wing"
4. Gould, "Natural Selection and the Human Brain: Darwin vs.
Wallace"
II. Controversies within evolutionary biology, 1972-2009, and their philosophical and
political implications
A. What evolves?
Reading: 1. Richard Dawkins, selections from The Selfish Gene
2. Gould, "Caring Groups and Selfish Genes"
B. What are the historical contours of evolution?
Reading: 1. Niles Eldredge and Gould, "Phyletic Gradualism"
2. Daniel Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Chapter 10
3. Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype, Chapter 6
4. Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, Chapter 9
5. Niles Eldredge, selections from Time Frames: The Evolution of
Punctuated Equilibria
6. David Prindle, Stephen Jay Gould and the Politics of Evolution
Chapter 3
C. Can Homo sapiens be studied using the same concepts and methods that are
applied to animals?
Reading: 1. E. O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Chapters 1, 2, and
27
2. Philip Kitcher, selections from Vaulting Ambition
3. Gould, "Our Natural Place"
4. Prindle, Stephen Jay Gould, Chapter 4
5. John Alcock, selections from The Triumph of Sociobiology
6. Steven Pinker, selections from The Blank Slate
D. Is the human species an accident or inevitable?
Reading: 1. Gould, selections from Wonderful Life
2. Prindle, Stephen Jay Gould, Chapter 3
3. Simon Conway Morris, selections from Life's Solution
4. Simon Conway Morris, selections from The Crucible of Creation
5. Richard Dawkins, "Hallucigenia, Wiwaxia and Friends"
III. Darwinism vs. Creationism in modern society
A. The intellectual attack on Darwinism, and the defense
Reading: 1. Michael Behe, selections from Darwin's Black Box
2. Phillip Johnson, selections from Darwin On Trial
3. William Dembski, selections from Intelligent Design: The Bridge
Between Science and Theology
4. Selections from Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics,
edited by Robert Pennock
5. Michael Shermer, selections from Why Darwin Matters
6. Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory"
7. Gould, "Hooking Leviathan by Its Past"
8. Prindle, Stephen Jay Gould, Chapter 6
9. Selections from Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True
B. Court cases
1. Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971 (U. S. Supreme Court decision)
Reading: Read the decision
2. McLean v. Arkansas, 1982 (Federal court decision)
Reading: Selections from Creationism On Trial: Evolution and God at Little
Rock, edited by Langdon Gilkey
3. Tammy Kitzmiller et al v. Dover Area School District et al, 2005 (Federal
court decision)
Reading: Read the decision
Assignments
There are three assignments in this class. Three times during the semester students will have a choice of taking a test or writing an essay. The tests will consist of twenty-five multiple-choice questions and ten short-answer questions. The essay topics will ask the students to compare, contrast, and evaluate opposing positions on various topics within the politics of evolution. Over the course of the semester students may choose to write two essay and take one test, or take two tests and write one essay, but they may not choose three tests or three essays.