SYLLABUS FOR MONKEY BUSINESS

 

Topic

Reading

Week 1

Introduction

1/16 (Tues)

Course Overview

None

1/18 (Thurs)

Episode of "The Day the Universe Changed"

None

Week 2

Situating Evolution

1/23 (Tues)

Psychology and Evolution

In NCE:
pp. 409-414 (Wilson)
pp. 415-419 (Gould)
pp. 465-477 (Pinker)
pp. 477-480 (Jones)

1/25 (Thurs)

Philosophy and Evolution

In NCE:
pp. 483-489 (Dewey)
pp. 489-493 (Dennett)
pp. 493-500 (Ruse)

Week 3

Darwin & Darwinism

1/30 (Tues)

Evolution in Gestation:
E. Darwin, Lamarck, Malthus, & co.

In NCE:
pp. 33-39 (De Beer)
pp. 39-40 (Malthus, 1798)
pp. 44-49 (Lamarck, 1809)

2/1 (Thurs)

Introducing C. Darwin

In NCE:
pp. 61-64 (Wallace, 1858)
pp. 23-29 (Mayr)
pp. 67-69 (Darwin)
pp. 72-73 (Darwin)
On Sakai:
"Darwin's Delay" (Gould)

Week 4

 

2/6 (Tues)

Darwin breaks through

In NCE:
pp. 85-87 (Darwin)
pp. 95-115 (Darwin)

2/8 (Thurs)

The Origin of Species

In NCE:
pp. 133-147 (Darwin)
In BB:
"The Panda's Thumb of Technology"
"Glow, Big Glowworm"

Week 5

 

2/13 (Tues)

The Descent of Man

In NCE:
pp. 175 - 229 (Darwin)

2/15 (Thurs)

Descending further...

In NCE:
pp. 230 - 254 (Darwin)

Week 6

 

2/20 (Tues)

In Darwin's wake

In NCE:
pp. 287-288 (Wallace)
pp. 289-300 (N. Acad. Sci.)
pp. 319-325 (Bowler)
In BB:
"Kropotkin Was No Crackpot"

2/22 (Thurs)

Creationism + Classrooms → Courtrooms

In NCE:
pp. 542-549 (Scopes transcript)
In BB:
"Genesis and Geology"
"William Jennings Bryan's Last Campaign"

Week 7

Ape Cognition

2/27 (Tues)

Bringing up Kanzi

In AL&HM:
pp. 1 -74

3/1 (Thurs)

Kanzi, the movie star

None

Week 8

 

3/6 (Tues)

Philosophy on the Planet of the Apes

In AL&HM:
pp. 77-138
In NCE:
pp. 511-517 (DeWaal)
pp. 517 - 524 (Ridley)

3/8 (Thurs)

Beyond Speciesism

In AL&HM:
pp. 181-227
On Sakai:
"Anthropomorphism, Primatomorphism, & Mammalomorphism" (Keeley)

Week 9

SPRING BREAK

3/13 (Tues)

SPRING BREAK

 

3/15 (Thurs)

SPRING BREAK

 

Week 10

The Missing Link: DEVELOPMENT!!!

3/20 (Tues)

Evolution ←and→Development:
A bit of history

On Sakai:
Individual Development and Evolution (Gottlieb)

3/22 (Thurs)

Some mechanics of  heredity

In TDG:
Chapters 4, 5, and 6

Week 11

 

3/27 (Tues)

The importance of  development

In TDG:
Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10

3/29 (Thurs)

The new preformationism

In TDG:
Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14
In BB:
"Here Goes Nothing"

Week 12

Intelligent Design

4/3 (Tues)

Creationism, Old School

In NCE:
pp. 534-541 (Scott)
pp. 555-557 (I.C.R)
pp. 557-564 (Morris)
On Sakai:
"Creationist Theory:
Popular Evolutionist Misunderstandings" (Ratzsch)

4/5 (Thurs)

Meet the New Boss
(same as the old boss):
Behe, meet Paley

In NCE:
pp. 581-586 (Johnson)
pp. 592-601 (Behe)
pp. 41-44 (Paley, 1802(!))

Week 13

 

4/10 (Tues)

Videos: From the front lines of the I.D. controversy

On Sakai:
"Phillip Johnson's Assault Upon Faith-based Darwinism" (Berton)

4/12 (Thurs)

Witness for the prosecution: Phillip Johnson

On Sakai:
"Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism" (Johnson)
"Naturalism, Evidence, and Creationism: The Case of Philip Johnson" (Pennock)
"Response to Pennock" (Johnson)
In NCE:
pp. 586-592 (Scott)

Week 14

 

4/17 (Tues)

William Dembski

On Sakai:
Selections from Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA (Dembski & Ruse, 2004),
Selections from Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing (Wilson & Dembski, 2004)

4/19 (Thurs)

Dawkins on probability and incremental evolution

On Sakai:
Introduction, Preface,
and Chapters 1, 2, and 3

Week 15

 

4/24 (Tues)

Responding to The New Creationism

In NCE:
pp. 601-604 (Dorit)
pp. 605-612 (Ruse)
pp. 617-623 (N. Acad. Sci.)
On Sakai:
"Biology Remystified"
(Brauer & Brumbaugh)
In BB:
"Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding"

4/26 (Thurs)

Continuing discussion

None

Week 16

Final Concerns

5/1 (Tues)

The broad implications: Why this all matters to non-biologists

On Sakai:
"Why Creationism Should not be Taught in the Public Schools" (Pennock)
"Creation and Evolution: A Modest Proposal" (Plantinga)

5/3 (Thurs)

Final Wrap-up

None

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