This page was created for use by students on HUM 110  History of Ideas: Evolution  at Highline Community College.

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What do Americans believe about the origins of humanity?   More that 45% believe God created human beings in their present form less than 10,000 years ago.

        Gallup Polls

        Pew Research Trust

What is Science?

          Introduction  to Scientific Method  by Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester, Department of Physics.

          What is pseudoscience?

Teleolology

The fifth way of  Thomas Aquinas.  Summa Theologica, Part 1,  question 2.

The argument from design.  (pdf) William Paley selections from Natural Philosophy prepared by Gary Varner.  Full text

 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion,  D. Hume (1854 ed.)  Hume's refutations.

Darwin

Writings -- The Complete Works of Charles Darwin. 

Origin of Species.  Chapter 15  (pdf) - recapitulation of the argument of the book, and conclusion. 

 

 Understanding Evolution

        Interactive Evolution Timeline

           Timeline of Evolution

          Evolution is a Theory and a Fact  from The TalkOrigins Archive

 The Evolution Library at PBS

Mechanisms of Change 17 slides explaining forces of evolution

Evolution 101  an introduction to the theory, process, and mechanism of evolution from University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Science Foundation.

Evolution of the eye (image)

Mendel's Genetics  by Dr. Dennis O'Neil,  Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College

What is DNA?  multimedia tutorials from the U. of Utah Genetics Learning Center.

Genetics: The Basics and Beyond   multimedia tutorials from the U. of Utah Genetics Learning Center.

Meiosis Tutorial  by  Rolf E. Christoffersen and Dr. Debbie Kaska,  Division of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology,  Department of Biological Sciences,  University of California, Santa Barbara

4 Lectures by Sean Carroll.   2005 Holiday Lectures on Science.  Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

5 Causes of evolution - brief lecture notes

The Big Picture

            Brief History of Life  NOVA, Origins series.

            Tree of Life Web Project

            Timeline of Human Evolution  Wikipedia, with bibliographic information.

            Exploring life's origin's  exhibit from the Museum of Science in Boston

           Interactive timeline from the beginning of the universe.

Ring Species

            Ensatina Salamanders

             Greenish Warbler,  Irwin, D.E., S. Bensch, and T.D. Price. 2001. Speciation in a ring. Nature 409: 333-337.

 

Social Darwinism

           A History:  The Construction of Race and Racism.   Dismantling Racism Project.

           Is Race Real?  Confusions About Human Races,  R. Lewontin.   

          Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement. 

           Vermont Eugenics: A documentary history

"Survival of the Fittest" and the Origins of Social Darwinism.  Gregory Claeys.  Jour. of the Hist of Ideas.  V. 61, N0 2 (Apr 2000)   Argues that the origins of social Darwinism are pre-Darwinian.

 Origins of Social Darwinism in Germany 1859 -1895

 

Spiritual Evolution

Teilhard  selection from The Phenomenon of Man

Aurobindo -- The Future Evolution of Man

Teilhard and Aurobindo compared

Bergson -- Creative Evolution

 

Human Evolution

            Archeology.info  resources include a human evolution timeline, a web guide,  and Hominid fossils gallery.

 

Applications of Evolutionary theory in various fields

Evolutionary Epistemology.  Massimo Pigliucci..  Skeptic  Jan-Feb. 2007

Evolutionary Epistemology.  N. Gontier, from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Can there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?  Daniel Dennett

Evolutionary Ethics.  D. Schroeder, from the  Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURE.,  By: Dennett, Daniel C., Monist, 00269662, Jul2001, Vol. 84, Issue 3

The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion.  Pinker, S.  address to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin, October 29, 2004.

What is Evolutionary Psychology.  Pinker. S.   Letter to the editor of the NY Review of Books responding to Gould and explaining Evolutionary Psychology.

Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer  Leda Cosmides & John Tooby

Cultural psychology meets evolutionary psychology: Toward a new role of biology in the study of culture and experience.  Paul Voestermans & Cor Baerveldt.
 

Proponents of Intelligent Design

            The Wedge Document pdf    html   Explanation and defense of the document from the Discovery Institute

  Science and Design  by William Demski,  from The Discovery Institute.  Demski argues that design is a necessary condition for complexity.

            Survival of the Fakest  (pdf) by  Jonathan Wells.  A look at error, fakery, and misrepresentation in the history of Darwinism.

            Other Essential Readings in Intelligent Design Theory from The Discovery Institute

 

Creationism and Creation Science

            Genesis in the Original language

            Genesis - King James version

            Articles from CRSC, The Creation Research Society Quarterly.  

            Creation Science Evangelism

 

Responses to Intelligent Design

            Show me the Science,  ( pdf) Daniel Dennett  New York Times, Nov 28, 2005

           A Biochemist's Response to "The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" by David Ussery . Review of Behe , Darwin's Black Box.

            Testimony of Jeffery Shalit.  Katzmiller vs Dover.   May 2005.   Refuting the arguments of William Demski as pseudoscience and pseudomathematics.

            Scientists respond to Creationism.  24 short videos on a variety of topics.  

            "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense." John Rennie.  Scientific American.  June 18, 2002.

            Response to J Wells,  Icons of Evolution.    Alan Gishlick,NCSE

The Flagellum Unspun:  The Collapse of "Irreducible Complexity" .  Kenneth R. Miller
 

 

Legal and Political issues with ID

            The Scopes Trial

            The Dover Trial  complete transcripts from TalkOrigins

            Senator (KS) Brownback  New York Times Op-ed piece explaining why he raised his hand at a press conference when asked "Who doesn't believe in evolution?"        

 

EVOLUTION PERSPECTIVE

  1. Ayala, Francisco J. (Mar., 1970) Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy of Science, Vol. 37, No. 1. pp. 1-15.
     
  2. Bedau, Mark (Nov., 1991) Can biological teleology be naturalized?, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 88, No. 11, Eighty-Eighth Annual Meeting American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. pp. 647-655.
     
  3. Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1973) Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, American biology Teacher, Vol. 35, pp. 125-129.
     
  4. Frank, Mark, (2006) Detecting design: Specification versus likelihood. Talk Reason
     
  5. Gould, Stephen. J., and Lewonton, Richard C., (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 13:581-598.
     
  6. Gould, Stephen. J., and Vrba, Elizabeth S., (1982) Exaptation – A missing term in the science of form, Paleobiology 8:1: 581-598.
     
  7. Huxley, Thomas Henry, (1860) Letter to Charles Kingsley
     
  8. MacNeill, Allen, (2005) Natural Selection, Sparrows, and a Stochastic God
     
  9. Mayr, Ernst (1974) Teleological and Teleonomic: A New Analysis. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Volume XIV, pp 91 -117
     
  10. Mayr, Ernst (1992) The Idea of Teleology Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 53, No. 1 , pp. 117-135
     
  11. Mayr, Ernst (1995) Darwin's Impact on Modern Thought, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 139, No. 4, pp. 317-325
     
  12. Nagel, Ernest, (1977) Functional Explanations in Biology Functional Explanations in Biology, Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 74, No. 5, pp. 280-310
     
  13. Nagel, Ernest, (1977) Goal-Directed Processes in Biology, Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 74, No. 5, pp. 261-279
     
  14. Sense About Science, Short Peer Review Guide
     
  15. Schneider, T.D. (2002) Dissecting Dembski's "Complex Specified Information"

 

INTELLIGENT DESIGN PERSPECTIVE
  1. Axe, Douglas D., (2000) Extreme functional sensitivity to conservative amino acid changes on enzyme exteriors, Journal of Molecular Biology, Volume 301, Issue 3, Pages 585-595.
     
  2. Axe, Douglas D., (2004) Estimating the Prevalence of Protein Sequences Adopting Functional Enzyme Folds , Journal of Molecular Biology, Volume 341, Issue 5, Pages 1295-1315
     
  3. Behe, Michael and David W. Snoke, (2004) Simulating evolution by gene duplication of protein features that require multiple amino acid residues, Protein Sci 13: 2651-2664
     
  4. Dembski, William, (2001)Specification: The pattern that signifies intelligence
     
  5. Gonzalez, Guillermo and Jay Richards, (2004) Introduction to the Priviliged Planet, from The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery, Regnery

     
  6. Gonzalez, Guillermo and Jay Richards, (2004) Are We Alone?, The American Spectator, May 1 2004

     
  7. Gonzalez, Guillermo, (2005) Habitable Zones in the Universe, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres (Formerly Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere), Volume 35, Issue 6, Pages 555 - 606
     
  8. Lönnig, Wolf-Ekkehard and ­Heinz Saedler­, (2002) Chromosome Rearrangements and Transposable Elements, Annual Review of Genetics Vol. 36: 389-410
     
  9. Lönnig, Wolf-Ekkehard, (2004) Dynamic genomes, morphological stasis and the origin of irreducible complexity, Dynamical Genetics, pgs 101-119.
     
  10. Meyer, Stephen C., (2002) The Scientific Status of Intelligent Design: The Methodological Equivalence of Naturalistic and Non-Naturalistic Origins Theories from Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, Ignatius Press
     
  11. Meyer, Stephen C., (2004). The origin of biological information and the higher taxonomic categories. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 117(2):213-239.
     
  12. Thaxton, Charles, (1991) In Pursuit of Intelligent Causes: Some Historical Background
     
  13. Trevors, J.T. and D.L. Abel, (2004) Chance and Necessity do not explain the origin of life, Cell Biology International, Volume 28, Issue 11, Pages 729-739
     
  14. Voie, Øyvind Albert, (2006) Biological function and the genetic code are interdependent, Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Volume 28, Issue 4, May 2006, Pages 1000-1004

Some good books about Evolution and Religion:

Atran, Scott (2004) In Gods we trust: The evolutionary landscape of religion. Oxford University Press, paperback, 388 pages, ISBN #0195178033

Boyer, Pascal (2002) Religion explained: The evolutionary origins of religion. Vintage Books, paperback, 448 pages, ISBN #0099282763

Dawkins, Richard (2006) The God delusion. Houghton Mifflin, hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN #0618680004.

Dennett, Daniel (2007) Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon. Penguin Books, paperback, 464 pages, ISBN #0143038338

Newberg, Andrew & D'Aquili, Eugene (2001) Why god won't go away: Brain science and the biology of belief. Ballantine Books, paperback, 240 pages, ISBN #034544034X

Wilson, David Sloan (2003) Darwin's cathedral: Evolution, religion, and the nature of society. University of Chicago Press, paperback, 268 pages, ISBN #0226901351

 

A few more books about Evolution and Religion 

Darwin, Charles (E. O. Wilson, ed.) (2006) From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books. W. W. Norton, hardcover, 1,706 pages, ISBN #0393061345

Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenaus & Salter, Frank (1998) Indoctrinability, ideology, and warfare: Evolutionary perspectives. Berghahn Books, hardcover, 490 pages, ISBN #1571819231

Fitzduff, Marie & Stout, Chris (2006) The psychology of resolving global conflicts: From war to peace: Volume 1: Nature vs nurture. Praeger Security International, hardcover, 354 pages, ISBN #0275982084

Guthrie, Stewart (1995) Faces in the clouds: A new theory of religion. Oxford University Press, paperback, 336 pages, ISBN #0195098919

Hamer, Dean (2005) The God gene: How faith is hardwired into our genes. Anchor, 256 pages, ISBN #0385720319

Newberg, A. & Waldman, M. (2006) Why we believe what we believe: Uncovering our biological need for meaning, spirituality, and truth. Free Press, hardcover, 336 pages, ISBN # 0743274970

Persinger, Michael (1987) Neuropsychological bases of god beliefs. Praeger Publishers, 175 pages, ISBN #0275926486

Wolpert, Lewis (2006) Six impossible things before breakfast: The evolutionary origins of belief. W. W. Norton, 243 pages, ISBN #0393064492

 

Problems:  Please let me know -- gavantag@highline.edu