| Description: |
This course will examine the philosophical foundations of evolutionary biology
as well as the role that the biological sciences can and/or should play in both
our philosophical and our scientific understanding of human beings. The course
will be taught by Kyle Stanford, but will include multiple lectures from a
number of distinguished visitors, including Francisco Ayala of UCI E&E Biology,
and Brian Skyrms of UCI Logic and Philosophy of Science. Lecture topics will
include Human Sociobiology, Evolutionary Game theory, The Evolution of
Altruistic Behavior and Moral Norms, Cultural Evolution and the Biological
Foundations or Morality, The Evolution of Language, Biology and the Mind/Body
Problem, and The Ethical Dimensions of Cloning. The texts will be
Philosophy of Biology edited by Michael Ruse, Skyrms's Evolution of the Social Contract,
and selected xerox papers. Students will be
evaluated on three 1,000 word essays and a final term paper of 4,000 words
(satisfying the Upper Division Writing Requirement).
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