History of Ideas: Evolution -- Fall 2008 Weekly Schedule -- HOME  --  SYLLABUS Jump to  week :  4 - 6 - 8 - 10

 SECTION ONE:    WHAT IS EVOLUTION?  

Week 1:   Sept 22  .    Introduction to course.    Informal Pre-test.   What do the polls say?  The pre-Darwinian world view.  Why does nature have the order that it does?  What is teleology?   What is the design argument?

        Study Questions for Week 1

        Print-your-own  READING:

1. Ernst Mayr.   Darwin's Impact on Modern Thought, (pdf) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 139, No. 4

2. Thomas Paley.  Selections from Natural Theology.   The argument from design  (pdf) 

3. Genesis  Chapter 1  Chapter 2

Survey results.

          Critical Notes #1:    Due MONDAY.   1-2 pages Please explain in your own words the Design Argument offered by Paley.   Every argument has reasons or evidence (premises) which support the conclusion.   What are the premises and conclusion of Paley's argument?

        Additional Resources:   
         Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)  5 arguments for the existence of God.  Summa Theologica, Part 1,  question 2.

         

Week 2:  Sept 29.     Responses to the Design Argument.  Meet Charles Darwin. 

Study Questions for Week 2

Video Study Guide for Darwin's Revolution: part 1   (print for Tuesday Class)

Video Guide for Darwin's Dangerous Idea

          READING:

1. Hume,  Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.  on-line version
              Read  Parts 1 and 2 ,  (especially pages 15-22).   Look for the argument  from design presented by Cleanthes beginning on p15.  Look for Philo's rebuttal: that the analogy is not a good one.
               Read Part 3,  Look for Cleanthes adding to his design argument, and Demea pointing out that if we stay with the analogy,  God would have the same failings that human designers do.
               Read Part 7,  Why conclude that order comes from Reason?  Perhaps  order comes from some other principle, like generation.
               Read Part 8,  Maybe order results from the nature of matter.
    

2. David Quanmen, The Reluctant Mr Darwin.    Read Chapters 1-6. 
            

Critical Notes #2:   Here are the first 3 questions from the Study Guide for Week 3.   Answer them!

1.  Near the end of  the introduction to the book Quanmen refers to Darwin's "scary materialism."   What is materialistic about Darwin's idea,  and why would anyone think that materialism was scary?
    
2.  Darwin moves toward transmutation when building evidence seems to undermine the stability of species.   We might consider four types of evidence that are mentioned:
                   --     fossils related to living species on same geography
                   --     island species are related to species on closest main land
                   --     similar species clustered geographically
                   --     multiple varieties of one kind,  such as finches, orchids, beetles.
   Why was this evidence a problem for the "species are eternal"  position?  (1)
    
3. According to Darwin, how would the process of adaptation explain the existence of varieties?  (2)

Week 3:  October 6.    Charles Darwin.   The theory of natural selection.  Lamarck.

           Study Questions for Week 3  

         Video Guide for Darwin's Dangerous Idea      (if you did not get this last week.)

Reading:

1. David Quanmen, The Reluctant Mr Darwin.   Chapters:   8, 10. [through page 75]

2. Charlesworth and Charlesworth, Evolution: A very short introduction. Chapter 1 - Introduction,  Chapter 2 - Processes of Evolution, and Chapter 5 -  Adaptation

        Video: Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Critical Notes #3    1-2 pages.  Dues in class Thursday:   Darwin must answer the question "What is the mechanism by which species change?"  His answer is natural selection.   How does the process of natural selection explain changes in living kinds?  (Darwin's Dangerous Idea;  Quanmen, Chapter 8;  Evolution: A very short introduction,  Chapter 2)   

I am looking for evidence of critical thinking about the central concepts and questions.  Elements of Critical Thinking.

What is Natural Selection?  selection from Origin of Species.

Week 4:  October 13.    How does evolution occur?  What is adaptation?  Is everything an adaption?  A little bit of genetics. 

         Reading:

1. Charlesworth and Charlesworth, Evolution: A very short introduction.  Chapter 3 -  Evidence for evolution, Chapter 6 - Formation and Divergence of Species.

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

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

   
          Study Guide for Week #4

        Critical Notes #4  --   Due in class Thursday.  1-2 pages.  Please come to class with at least one written  question that you need to have answered before you leave with the exam.   The questions may come from reading or our discussion, or it may be something related that we have not discussed yet.  We will complete additional writing in-class.

        MIDTERM EXAM #1 --  Take Home Exam

        Mid term Grading standards    pdf version

SECTION TWO:  IS THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION DANGEROUS?                      

Week 5:   Oct 20.       Take Home Exam due Monday.  What is creationism?  What is intelligent design? 

Study Questions for Week 5      

 READING :  

1. Genesis  Chapter 1  Chapter 2

2. Dembski, Science and Design. 

3. Wells,  Survival of the Fakest   pdf   (You need Adobe Reader to read pdf files.  Down load it for free.)

4. Michael Shermer, Why Darwin Matters.   Chapter 4.

        Video: Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.

Critical Notes #5   1-2 pages. Due Monday 10.27.  Read Wells (above) .  He discusses 7 cases of what he calls "icons of evolution".  He concludes that, "when the false evidence is taken away, the case for evolution, in the textbooks at least, is so thin it's almost invisible."  Please select one of his seven cases, do a little bit of research, and give us your assessment of Wells' argument. 

 

Week 6:  Oct 27.   Michael Shermer, Why Darwin Matters.   What is science?  Can there be a "creation science?"   What was the Scopes Trial?  What was the Dover trial?

        Study Questions for Week 6

        READING:

1. Shermer, Why Darwin Matters.  Chapters 2,  5,and 6.

2. Introduction  to Scientific Method  by Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester, Department of Physics. (Print)

3.  The Scopes Trial  (explore these pages)
4. Evolution is a Theory and a Fact  from The TalkOrigins Archive  (Print)
5.  Video Modules:   #'s 2, 5, and 7.   The Process of Science;   Is Evolution Just a Theory?  

Critical Notes #6   1-2 pages.  Write a letter to someone explaining to them the scientific method?   How does a person "do science?"  Due Monday. 

Week 8:  Nov. 10.  Tuesday no class   Holiday -Veteran's Day.    What is evolutionary psychology?