Instructor: Christopher Stephens
Section: 001
Term: 2
Meets: Wed 2:00pm-5:00pm
The theory of evolution raises a number of philosophical problems, many of which we’ll examine in this course. We’ll begin with a brief introduction to evolutionary theory and an examination of some of the historical issues surrounding the development of Darwin’s theory. We will discuss the debate between creationism and evolutionism both in its historical and contemporary context. The central philosophical questions in this part of the course will be: what makes a theory or hypothesis scientific? How does evidence confirm or disconfirm a scientific theory?
In the second (largest) part of the course, we’ll look at a number of conceptual and methodological debates within evolutionary theory. Biologists have been engaged in heated debates over questions such as: what is a species? How powerful a force is natural selection? At what level (or Mylevels)—gene, individual or group—does natural selection act? Are there laws in biology?
Finally, in the third part of the course, we’ll look at attempts to apply evolutionary theory to psychology and areas of philosophy such as ethics. One of the central issues here is what the implications of evolutionary theory are for understanding whether there is a “human nature.”
Readings will likely include works by Darwin, Paley, Huxley, Mayr, Popper, Behe, Sober, Lewontin, Gould, Lloyd, Maynard Smith, Wilson (E.O.), Wilson (D.S.), Kitcher, Appiah, Beatty, Hull and Haraway. In addition to the primary source material drawn from these authors, we will also read Elliott Sober’s textbook, Philosophy of Biology (Westview Press, 2000).
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