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Darwin's Legacy (DAR 200)
In recognition of Continuing Studies’ 20th anniversary, we are pleased to offer a special team-taught course each quarter this year, subsidizing the tuition as a gift to our students. Each course will be directed by a senior faculty member at Stanford, who will invite an esteemed colleague from Stanford or elsewhere to collaborate. These courses will offer a unique opportunity to learn from some of the world’s finest scholars as they work together to explore compelling cultural, scientific, and philosophical issues.
We are proud to launch this series with a course that anticipates the "Darwin Year" of 2009 during which two major Darwin anniversaries will be marked: the 200th of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th of the publication of On the Origin of Species, arguably the most revolutionary book of the past 400 years. We are equally proud that the course will be directed by Bill Durham, one of Stanford’s treasures: a MacArthur ("genius grant") Prize Winner, Yang and Yamazaki University Fellow, the Bing Professor in Human Biology, Professor of Anthropology, as well as an international expert on ecological and evolutionary anthropology.
SPECIAL 20TH-ANNIVERSARY COURSE: Darwin's Legacy
"Light will be thrown..." With these modest words, Charles Darwin launched a sweeping new theory of life in his epic book, On the Origin of Species (1859). The theory opened eyes and minds around the world to a radical new understanding of the flora and fauna of the planet. Here, Darwin showed for the first time that no supernatural processes are necessary to explain the profusion of living beings on earth, that all organisms past and present are related in a historical branching pattern of descent, and that human beings fall into place quite naturally in the web of all life.
Now, 150 years later and 200 years after Darwin’s birth, we celebrate the amazingly productive vision and reach of his theory. In this Fall Quarter course, we will meet weekly with leading Darwin scholars from around the country to learn about Darwin’s far-reaching legacy in fields as diverse as anthropology, religion, medicine, psychology, philosophy, literature, and biology. With such a broad reach across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, no wonder the theory of evolution by natural selection has been called “the single best idea, ever.”
Confirmed speakers include Daniel Dennett (Darwin's Dangerous Idea), George Levine (Darwin Loves You), Eugenie Scott (Evolution vs. Creationism), Niles Eldredge (Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life), Janet Browne (Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place), Peter and Rosemary Grant (How and Why Species Multiply), and George Levine (Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection and the Re-enchantment of the World).
COURSE DIRECTOR
William H. Durham, Bing Professor of Human Biology; Yang
and Yamazaki University Fellow; Professor of Anthropology
PLANNING COMMITTEE
Carol Boggs, Professor of Biology; Director, Program
in Human Biology
Rodolfo Dirzo, Bing Professor in Environmental Science
Charles Junkerman, Associate Provost and Dean of
Continuing Studies
Robert Siegel, Associate Professor of Microbiology
and Immunology, Program in Human Biology
Course Roster
Sept. 22: Darwin’s Legacy: Introduction with Bill Durham, Bob Siegel and Lynn Rothschild
Sept. 29: Evolution and Religion, from Darwin to Dawkins with Eugenie Scott, Brent Sockness and Jeffrey Wine
Oct. 6: Darwin’s Big Book and Its Ideas with Janet Browne, H. Craig Heller, and Robert Proctor
Oct. 13: In Philosophy and Politics with Daniel Dennett, Chris Bobonich and Hank Greely
Oct. 20: In Contemporary Biology with Peter and Rosemary Grant, Carol Boggs, and Rodolfo Dirzo
Oct. 27: Tree of Life: Discovery and Importance with Niles Eldredge, Ward Watt and Liz Hadly
Nov. 3: In Anthropology and Sociology with Melissa Brown, Michael Hannan and William Durham
Nov. 10: In Medicine with Paul Ewald, Stanley Falkow and Gary Schoolnik
Nov. 17: In Human Behavior and Psychology with Russ Fernald, Charles Junkerman and Eric Knudsen
Dec. 1: In Literature and Social Thought with George Levine and Rob Polhemus. Panel with Darwin Planning Group.
Please note the schedule is being finalized, check for latest developments.
Recommended Reading for this Course
On the Origin of Species (1st Edition) by Darwin, C.
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin by Barlow, N.
Evolution Vs. Creationism: An Introduction by Eugenie C. Scott
Darwin's Origin of Species: Books That Changed the World by Janet Browne
Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life by Daniel C. Dennett
How and Why Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches by Peter and Rosemary Grant
Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life by Niles Eldredge
Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour by Kevin N. Laland and Gillian Brown
Evolution of Infectious Disease by Paul Ewald
The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture by Matt Ridley
Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection and the Re-enchantment of the World
by George Levine
This course will be offered as an elective in the Human
Biology Program to Stanford undergraduates. Enrollment
will be monitored so that an equal number of CSP students
and undergraduates can be admitted.
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Course Details
Mondays
7:00 - 8:50 pm
10 weeks
Sept 22 - Dec 1
2 units $200
Limit: 196
Drop by: Oct 5
(No class on November 24)
Closed
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