Instructor: George F. Michel, (x 4246), rm 507, Byrne Hall; Office Hours: TThF 11:50-1:10
e-mail: gmichel@condor.depaul.edu
Type of Course: This is an Internet intensive course (for course syllabus and reading assignments see "Course Syllabi" - specifically IDS 114 on my home page http://condor.depaul.edu/~gmichel). Teaching will involve lectures and assigned readings (on the Internet) and their integration via small group discussions, individual performance on homework projects, classroom discussion, and a poster project. Evaluation will depend upon qualitative assessment of the student's classroom discussion and quantitative assessment of student's written assignments, poster, and portfolio. Although there is a listed bibliography, the readings will be extracted from the Internet appropriately to the topic of discussion. Often, the reading assignments will illustrate alternative viewpoints. As a Focal Point Seminar, this course is designed to introduce first-year students to the nature and scope of intellectual inquiry at DePaul University. In a Focal Point Seminar, students learn about a single topic in depth, and then learn to complicate their view of that topic by examining it from different perspectives. Students also learn to read challenging texts critically and carefully and to use writing as a means of learning difficult subjects thoroughly and effectively.
Brief Course Description: Ever since its initial presentation, Darwinian notions about evolution have engendered much controversy in western societies. This course compares Darwin's notions with those evolutionary notions prevalent before Darwin. Also, we examine how Darwin's notions lead to the Eugenics movement started by his cousin Galton. Early in the 20th C., Mendel's genetic theories were rediscovered and incorporated into a Darwinian framework to create the modern Synthetic Theory of Evolution. This lead to several "biological" theories about human behavior. For example, Sociobiology seeks to integrate social and biological sciences by treating many aspects of human psychology (e.g., violence, racial attitudes, intelligence, altruism, gender differences in values and behavior, homosexuality) and culture (e.g., incest taboos, marital customs, crime, religion, racial, sexual, and ethnic discrimination) as products of naturally selected genes. The common assumptions of the Synthetic theory (that natural selection underlies all directed evolutionary change and that it acts on genes) are critically examined. Alternative accounts to Darwinian theory that rely on creationism notions are also examined critically. Finally a biological account is presented that is consistent with Darwinian notions, but is not reductionistic and deterministic.
Course Requirements: In addition to the assigned readings, students are responsible for four written projects, a journal/portfolio, and a team poster to be presented on Nov. 12 at 6:15-7:30 in the Commons. These posters will be constructed so that they stand about 40" high and about 72" long. Each poster will examine a specific question about evolution (e.g., "What are some common notions about evolution?", "Is evolution still happening?", "What is the position of humans in the evolutionary process?"). The poster will state: 1) why that question was examined (describing what was known concerning the question and what is hoped to be added by the current attempt to examine this question); 2) how it was examined (e.g., the literature that was compared, the people that were polled, the procedures that were followed); 3) what was discovered by the current examination (e.g., results of the poll, comparison, etc.); 4) What the results of the current examination means relative to the information presented in number 1 above. Only one poster will be constructed by each team; however, each member of the team must be at the Nov. 12 poster session and each must attend at least one of the sessions of the symposium on religion, ethics and evolutionary biology (Nov. 12, 3- 6 in SAC 154).
Syllabus for Darwin, Evolution, and Society:
Topic Date
I. Introduction 9/10
Project: Form teams and answer FAQs and return to team leaders
II. What is Evolution? 9/15-17
Project: Using text material, briefly describe:
1. Three common misconceptions about evolution
2. Three common misconceptions about natural selection
3. The differences between micro- and macroevolution
Hand in your work to your team leaders by 9/22
III. Apes, Angels, and Victorians 9/22-10/6
A. Evolutionary theories before Darwin 9/22
1. Aristotle
2. John Ray
Project: Using the Tree of Life, specify each of the classification steps from Eukaryotes to: 1) mushrooms, 2) pine trees, 3) magnolias, 4) bees, 5) humans. Hand in to team leaders on 9/29
B. Darwin's perspective 9/24-29
1. Who was Charles Darwin?
2. Darwin in Context
4. T. H. Huxley
C. Social Darwinism, Religion, and Society 10/1-6
1. The Victorian Response
4. Eugenics
Project: Describe how the quincunx fit with Galton's notions about Eugenics. Hand in to Team Leaders on 10/13
IV. Development, Genetics, and Evolution 10/8-15
B. Genetics before Mendel 10/8
C. Genetics and Development 10/13
1. Haeckel
2. Morgan
D. The Synthetic theory 10/15
V. Modern Consequences of Darwinism 10/20-27
A. Universal Darwinism 10/20
B. Ultra-Darwinism 10/22
C. Dynamic Darwinism 10/27
D. Speciation 10/27
Project: Describe briefly the process of speciation, including the traditional scenario, polyploidy, punctuated equilibrium, ring species, and mating preference. Hand in to team leaders on 10/29
VI. Creationism and Creationism Science 10/29-11/10
A. Thesis 10/29
B. Antithesis 11/3
C. Resolution? 11/5
D. Evolution is a Religion? 11/5
E. Argument from Design 11/10
F. Antiadaptationist Evidence 11/10
VII. Poster and Symposium Sessions 11/12
VIII. Individuals as Active Players in their Destinies 11/17
Journal/portfolio due 11/19
Bibliography:
Bowles, P. J. (1996). Charles Darwin: The man and his influence. NY: Cambridge U. press.
Dawkins, R. (1986). Sociobiology: The new storm in a teacup. In S. Rose & L. Appignanesi (Eds.) Science and beyond (pp. 73-75). NY: Basil Blackwell.
Dawkins. R. (1996). The blind watchmaker. NY: Norton
Dawkins, R. (1997). Climbing mount improbable. NY: Norton.
Dennett, D. C. (1995). Darwin's dangerous idea. NY: Simon & Schuster
Goodwin, B. & Dawkins, R. (1995). What is an organism? A discussion. In N.S. Thompson (Ed.) Behavioral design, Perspectives in Ethology, vol. 11 (47-60). NY: Plenum
Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. NY: Norton.
Gould, S.J. (1987). Darwinism defined: The difference between fact and theory. Discover (January), 64-70.
Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful Life: The Burgess shale and the nature of history. NY: Norton.
Gould, S. J., Ed. (1993). The book of life. NY: Norton.
Gould S.J. (1996). Full house: The spread of excellence from Plato to Darwin. NY: Crown Publishers, Inc.
Gould, S.J. & Lewontin, R.C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 205, 581-598.
Kauffman, S. (1996). Even peptides do it. Nature, 382, 496-497.
Irvine, W. (1956). Apes, Angels and Victorians. London: Readers Union.
Rose, S. (1988). Reflections on reductionism. Trends in Biochemical Science, 13, 160-162 & 379-380.
Rose, S. (1998). Lifelines: Biology beyond determinism. NY: Oxford U. press.
Scott, E.C. (1996). Creationism, ideology, and science. In P.R. Gross, N Levitt, & M.W. Lewis (Eds.) The flight from science and reason (pp. 505-522). New York: The New York Academy of Sciences.
Thomas, W.A. (1986). Commentary: Science v. Creation-science. Science, Technology, and Human Values, #, 47-51.
Wilson, E.O. (1978). On human nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press.