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Psychology/History
138
Seeking Human Nature: The History and Science of Innateness **************************************************** SYLLABUS |
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WEEK OF:
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TOPIC FOR THE WEEK
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MONDAY
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WEDNESDAY
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1/17
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Course Introduction
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NO CLASS
(MLK, Jr. Day)
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Course Introduction
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1/24
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Historical Foundations:
The Crisis of Free Will |
A Posteriori
Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), pp. 43-65, 85-103 [Sakai]. |
A Priori
Leibniz, Monadology (1714), pp. 213-225 [Sakai]. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (1787), preface to the first edition [Sakai]. |
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1/31
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Human Nature before Darwin
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Preformationism, Epigenesis, and
Recapitulation
Gottlieb, Individual Development and Evolution, pp. 3-9 [Sakai]. Gould, Ever Since Darwin, pp. 201-206 [Sakai]. Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, pp. 13-28 [Sakai]. |
The Great Chain of Being versus
Evolution
Norton Critical Edition, Darwin, pp. 44-49 [Sakai]. Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, pp. 33-35 [Sakai]. Norton Critical Edition, Darwin, pp. 33-39 [Sakai]. |
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2/7
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Economy and Biology
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Self Interest, Creativity, Work
Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, excerpts [Sakai]. Marx, 1844 Manuscripts [Sakai]. |
Natural Selection and the
Inheritance of Adaptive Characteristics: The Origin of Species
Norton Critical Edition, Darwin's Letter to Asa Gray, pp. 85-87 [Sakai]. Norton Critical Edition, Origin of Species, pp. 95-115, 133-147 [Sakai]. |
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2/14
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Darwin Considers the Humans, and
the Humans Start Considering Darwin
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Descent of Man
Darwin, Descent of Man
(1871), pp. 66-99 [Sakai]. |
Social Darwinism
Huxley, On the Origin of Species (1863), pp. 96-120 [Sakai]. Spencer, "Comparative Psychology" (1876), pp. 7-20 [Sakai]. |
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2/21
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Political Consequences
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Galton and the Rise of Eugenics
Gottlieb, pp. 48-58 [Sakai]. Kevles, In the Name of Eugenics, Ch. 1 [Sakai]. |
German Scientific Racism
Proctor, Racial Hygience, pp. 10-63 [Sakai]. |
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2/28
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Instinct and Human Nature
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Anti-Positivism
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, pp. 9-32 [Sakai]. Sahlins, The Western Illusion of Human Nature, pp. 72-112. |
Ethology and Its Critics
Lorenz, "Evolution of Behavior," Scientific American (1958) [Sakai]. Lehrman, "Critique," Quarterly Review of Biology (1953) [Sakai]. |
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3/7
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Instinct and Germ Plasm
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The Rise of Anti-Nativism
Beach, "Descent of Instinct," Psychological Review (1955) [Sakai]. Blumberg, Basic Instinct, Ch. 7 [Sakai]. |
The Advent of Experimental
Embryology
Weismann, The Effect of External Influences upon Development (1894), pp. 1-22, 38-41, 48-54 (you can skim the rest) [Sakai]. Gottlieb, pp. 59-72 [Sakai]. MID-TERM PAPERS DUE
FRIDAY, MARCH 11 |
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3/14
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NO CLASS (Spring Break)
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3/21
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Nature, Nurture, and Civilization
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Dr. Freud Weighs In
Freud, Civilizations and Its Discontents. |
Galton's Spawn
Plomin, Nature and Nurture, Ch. 1, pp. 20-56, 64-66 [Sakai]. Block, "How Heritability Misleads about Race" (1995); read at least the first 20 pages [Sakai]. |
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3/28
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Evolutionary Psychology
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Chomsky's Generative Grammer: The
Darwinists Take on Human Minds
Chomsky, "Recent Contributions to the Theory of Innate Ideas," Synthese (1967), pp. 2-11 [Sakai]. Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Ch. 1-3 [Sakai]. |
The Proliferation of Mental
Modules
Pinker, The Blank Slate, Ch. 1-3 [Sakai]. |
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4/4
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Genetics
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What Genes Do (and how they work)
Keller, Century of the Gene, pp. 1-31, 40-59. |
What Genes Can't Do
Keller, Century of the Gene, pp. 59-80, 103-120, 133-148. |
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4/11
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Rediscovering the Person
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Final Project Discussions
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Gene, Organism, Environment
Lewontin, Triple Helix, pp. 3-68. |
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4/18
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Reintegrating Development Into
Evolution
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Inheriting Developmental Systems
Lewontin, Triple Helix,
pp. 71-129.
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Not in Our Genes
Lewontin, Biology as Ideology, pp. 3-37, 87-123. |
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4/25
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Science, Politics, and Society
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Final Project Discussions
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Science and Freedom
Gould, Ever Since Darwin, pp. 207-267 [Sakai]. |
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5/2
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In Conclusion...
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The New Science of Epigenetics
and Its Implications for Human Nature
Shenk, The Genius in All of Us, Ch. 1, 3, 4, 6, and 10. |
Wrap-up
FINAL PAPERS DUE
FRIDAY, MAY 6 |
PSYCH/HIST 138 Homepage
PSYCH/HIST 138 General Course Information
PSYCH/HIST 138 Course Requirements
PSYCH/HIST 138 Course Objectives
David Moore's homepage