Philosophy and Biology of Evolutionary Theory

Catalog description

This course explores the question of evolutionary theory from the perspectives of philosophy and biology. From the biological perspective, the course focuses on genetics, adaptive evolution, neutral evolution, the genetic impact of selection on populations, the origin and maintenance of genetic variation, the importance of development in evolution, and the expression of variation. From the philosophical perspective, the course focuses on evolution as theory and ideology, the critique of the adaptationist program, evolution and contingency, typological versus population thinking, and the developmental systems critique. Note: This course counts as a natural science core but does not satisfy requirements for the biology major or minor. Crosslisted with PHIL 2216 .