| Date | Topic | Required Reading | Supplementary Reading | Notes |
| 1-Feb | Introduction | - | SEP, "Darwinism" | |
| 3-Feb | Resistance to Darwin |
* DDI, Ch.
1 * Lewis, Miracles (Ch. 3) |
* Kitcher, "Evolution for Everyone" | -Mind and Design |
| 8-Feb | Variation | * Origin,
Chs. 1 & 2 * DDI, Ch. 2.1 * Jenkin, excerpt from "Review of The Origin of Species" |
* Jenkin, "Review of The Origin of
Species" * Largent, "Darwin’s Analogy between Artificial and Natural Selection in the Origin of Species" |
-Inference to the Best Explanation -Species Essentialism/Nominalism -Darwin's Analogy |
| 10-Feb | Natural Selection | * Origin,
Chs. 3 & 4 * DDI, Ch. 2.2-2.5 |
-Chance in Darwin's Theory -Natural Selection and Algorithms -The Structure of Darwin's Theory |
|
| 15-Feb | * Origin,
Chs. 3 & 4 * DDI, Ch. 2.2-2.5 * Stanford Encyclopedia - "Chance in Natural Selection" |
|||
| 17-Feb | Darwinian Difficulties | * Origin,
Ch. 6 (up to: On the origins
and transitions of organic beings with peculiar habits and structures) * Origin, Ch. 4 (Divergence of Character) |
-The Gradation Problem -Irreducible Complexity |
|
| 22-Feb | * Origin,
Ch. 6 (the part not read on 2/17) * Behe, "Evidence for Intelligent Design from Biochemistry" |
* Paley, "The Watchmaker" | ||
| 24-Feb | Case Study: Geographical Distribution | * Origin, Chs. 11 & 12 | Presentations EXAM 1 Assigned |
|
| 1-Mar | Summary of The Theory | * Origin,
Ch. 13 (Morphology),
Ch.
14 * Kitcher, "Believing Where We Cannot Prove" |
-Summary of Darwin's Arguments -Proof v. Evidence |
|
| 3-Mar | Skyhooks and Cranes | * DDI, Ch. 3 | EXAM 1 Due | |
| 8-Mar | Possibility and Actuality |
* DDI, Chs. 5.1-5.2 & 6 | * DDI, Ch. 5.3-5.4 | |
| 10-Mar | Darwin in the Beginning | * DDI,
Ch.
7 |
||
| 15-Mar | * Hacking, "The Inverse Gambler's
Fallacy" |
* McGrath, "The Inverse Gambler's Fallacy: a reply to Hacking" | ||
| 17-Mar | Engineering and Biology | * DDI, Ch.
8.4-8.5 * Searle, "Minds, Brains and Programs" (pp. 298-301, 306-310) |
* Rest of DDI,Ch. 8 * Rest of Searle, "Minds, Brains and Programs" |
|
| 29-Mar | Adaptationism | * DDI,
Ch. 9.1 & 9.3 * Skyrms, "Sex and Justice" |
||
| 31-Mar | NO CLASS | RESEARCH FOR PAPER |
||
| 5-Apr | Adaptationism | * DDI,
Ch. 9.2 * Gould & Lewontin, "The Spandrels of San Marco…" |
EXAM
2
Assigned Paper Topic Due |
|
| 7-Apr | Adaptationism |
* DDI, Ch. 10 |
||
| 12-Apr | Memes | * DDI, Ch.
12 * Whitmeyer, "On the Relation Between Genes and Memes" |
EXAM 2 Due | |
| 14-Apr | Memes | * TBA - check your email |
||
| 19-Apr | Evolution
and
Altruism |
* Radcliffe-Richards, Ch. 7 |
||
| 21-Apr | Debunking Moral and Religious Beliefs |
*Street, "A Darwinian Dillema..." (Sections 1-6) |
* Griffiths, "When do evolutionary explanations..." | Rough Draft Due |
| 26-Apr | Debunking Moral and Religious Beliefs | * Radcliffe-Richards, Ch. 8 | EvoS Conference |
|
| 28-Apr | Debunking Moral and Religious Beliefs | * White, "You Just Believe That Because..." * Wielenberg, "On the Evolutionary Debunking of Morality" |
EvoS Conference | |
| 3-May | ||||
| 5-May | NOMA | * RoA, Ch. 1 & 2 | ||
| 10-May | Religion and Evolution | * RoA, Ch. 3 | ||
| 12-May | Religion and Science | * RoA, Ch. 4 * Ruse, "Review of Gould's RoA" |
EXAM 3 Assigned Final Paper Due |
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