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BIS 393A Special Topics: BIOLOGY AND SOCIETY, Winter 2005
UW Bothell, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

Course website for readings, assignments, announcements:
http://faculty.washington.edu/jwoiak/biology.html

Class meetings: M & W 3:30-5:35 pm, UW1-030
Instructor: Joanne Woiak
jwoiak@u.washington.edu
Office: UW1-246; 425-352-3364
Office hours: M & W 2:15-3:15 and by appointment

Course description and objectives: This course will critically examine the social contexts and meanings of historical and contemporary controversies over evolutionary theory and genetics. Biological knowledge about human life, as a product of cultural forces and an influence on social policy, often interacts with religious, moral, and philosophical beliefs, political and economic agendas, and race, class, gender, and disability prejudices. Biology has been used since the 19 th century to justify and refute particular beliefs about human nature, behaviors, and diversity. The first half of the course will cover key historical episodes, starting with the 1859 announcement of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Some of Darwin's contemporaries saw his theory as dangerously materialistic, but others reconciled evolution with their beliefs in divine design and ethics. In the US, fundamentalist anti-evolutionism emerged by 1925 at the infamous “Scopes monkey trial.” Around this same time the biological doctrines of Social Darwinism and eugenics were being used to sanction “improving” the human race by eliminating the “unfit” through such means as immigration restriction and forced sterilization. The second half of the course will focus on recent examples of how evolution and human genetics have been invoked for religious and political purposes, in problematic and seemingly contradictory ways by people that Stephen Jay Gould calls “Darwin bashers and boosters.” The “creation science” and “intelligent design” movements bash evolution with the ultimate goal of eroding church-state separation. Some of the Darwin boosters have revived controversial claims about the biological causation of diseases, disabilities, intelligence, behaviors, and gender roles, in the forms of genomics research, pre-natal testing practices, and evolutionary psychology. The goal of this course is to encourage critical perspectives on the varied social contexts and uses of the life sciences.

Assignments:

•  Participation in class discussion 15%
•  Written homework exercises (see website) 35%
•  Essay #1 (4 pages, due Mon Feb 7) 20%
•  Essay #2 (5 pages, due Wed Mar 9) 30%

 Readings and participation:

The required readings are posted on the COURSE WEBSITE (as pdf files), to be accessed using your UW ID. The required novel for Jan. 26, H. G. Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau, is in the UWB bookstore and on library reserve. You must visit the website regularly in order to download the readings and assignments, and check for updates to the course content. The “extra” links are supplementary readings that give further information on the subject matter covered in class; these might be useful for discussions or for preparing your essays. A number of supplementary books have been placed on the library reserve shelf. You are expected to do all of the day's required reading before the start of class and to be prepared with questions and opinions to talk about. Class meetings will include time for both lecturing and discussing the material. During the first few weeks the instructor will give lectures on the historical topics, while the contemporary topics will lend themselves to more informal student-initiated discussions. This course is designed to sharpen your practical skills in critical textual analysis, written and oral communication, and the synthesis of knowledge gained from several fields of study. We will read history of science scholarship, popular science writing from the past and present day, mass media articles, and some fiction and films that address relevant biological themes. Your participation grade will be based on evidence of preparedness and the quality and consistency of your contributions. Participation includes expressing your own reasoned arguments, as well as constructively responding to your classmates. Many of the topics to be covered are controversial and politicized, so my aim is to create an atmosphere of open and respectful sharing of ideas.

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS (see website)

M Jan 3 Social Origins & Implications of Evolution & Genetics
~ Read: Stephen Jay Gould, “A Darwin for Every Reason”

W Jan 5 Divine Will and Natural Laws
~ Read: John Hedley Brooke, “Natural Theology”
~ William Paley, Natural Theology [excerpts]
~ Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population

M Jan 10 Transformation in Nature and Society before Darwin
~ HOMEWORK #1 DUE
~ Read: William Coleman, “Transformation”
~ Steven Shapin, “Revolutionary Biology”
~ G. Blair Nelson, “‘Men Before Adam!' American Debates over the Unity and Antiquity of Humanity”

W Jan 12 Darwin and Evolution by Natural Selection, 1859
~ HOMEWORK #2 DUE
~ Read: James Moore, “Charles Darwin”
~ Charles Darwin, Origin of Species ; Autobiography of Charles Darwin [excerpts]
~ John Hedley Brooke, “Evolutionary Theory and Religious Belief”

M Jan 17 Holiday

W Jan 19 Religious and Scientific Responses to Darwinism
~ HOMEWORK #3 DUE
~ Read: John Durant, “Darwinism and Divinity: A Century of Debate”
~ Frank Turner, “The Victorian Conflict between Science and Religion: A Professional Dimension”

M Jan 24 Man's Place in Nature and Evolutionary Ethics, 1871-1893
~ HOMEWORK #4 DUE
~ Read: Charles Darwin, Descent of Man [excerpts]
~ T. H. Huxley, “Evolution and Ethics”
~ Martin Fichman, Evolutionary Theory and Victorian Culture

W Jan 26 Evolution in Fiction, 1896
~ Read: H. G. Wells, “Human Evolution, an Artificial Process”
~ Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau [whole book]

M Jan 31 Social Darwinism and Nature/Nurture
~ HOMEWORK #5 DUE
~ Read: Peter Bowler, “The Social Implications of Evolutionism”
~ Karl Pearson, National Life from the Standpoint of Science
~ Daniel Kevles, “Francis Galton, Founder of the Faith”

W Feb 2 The American Eugenics Movement, 1900-1940
~ Read: Garland Allen, “Genetics, Eugenics, and Medicalization of Social Behavior”
~ Diane Paul, “What is Eugenics? Why Does It Matter?”
~ Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race
~ Carl Brigham, A Study of American Intelligence
~ Stephen Jay Gould, “Carrie Buck's Daughter”
~ film The Lynchburg Story

M Feb 7 Critical Perspectives on Human Genetics since 1940
~ ESSAY #1 DUE
~ Read: Diane Paul, “Eugenic Anxieties, Social Realities, and Political Choices”
~ Evelyn Fox Keller, “Nature, Nurture, and the Human Genome Project”
~ Adrienne Asch, “Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion: A Challenge to Practice and Policy”

W Feb 9 Evolution on Trial, 1925
~ Read: Edward Larson, “The Scopes Trial”
~ Ronald Numbers, “The Creationists”
~ William Jennings Bryan, “God and Evolution”
~ film Inherit the Wind

M Feb 14 “Creation Science,” Religion, and Public Education to 1987
~ Read: Evolution vs. Creationism: The Public Education Controversy ;
~ “What Do Creation Scientists Believe?”
~ John Moore, “The Rise of ‘Creation Science' 1963”
~ Douglas Futuyma, “Hypotheses, Facts, and the Nature of Science”

W Feb 16 Biological Determinism Returns: The IQ and Sociobiology Controversies, 1970s
~ Read: Steven Rose, et al., “IQ: The Rank Ordering of the World”
~ E. O. Wilson, On Human Nature [excerpts]
~ Arthur Caplan, The Sociobiology Debate [excerpts]

M Feb 21 Holiday

W Feb 23 Gene Worship: From DNA to the HGP, 1953-2003
~ HOMEWORK #6 DUE
~ Read: Robert Proctor, “Genomics and Eugenics: How Fair Is the Comparison?”
~ Dorothy Nelkin, “The Media-ted Gene: Stories of Gender and Race”
~ Roger Lancaster, “The Biology of the Homosexual”

M Feb 28 Intelligence, Crime, and Race: Politics of Genetic Difference, 1990s
~ Read: The Bell Curve [excerpts and commentaries]
~ Mitchell Cohen, “Is Violence in Your Genes? The Violence Initiative Project”
~ “Does Race Exist?” Scientific American

W Mar 2 Evolutionary Psychology Today: Universal Human Nature
~ Read: Michael Ruse and E. O. Wilson, “The Evolution of Ethics”
~ Phillip Kitcher, “The Hypothalamic Imperative”
~ Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Beyond Difference: Feminism and Evolutionary Psychology”

M Mar 7 Intelligent Design Creationism
~ Read: Phillip Johnson, “The Intelligent Design Movement: Challenging the Modernist Monopoly on Science”
~ Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, “The Wedge Strategy”
~ Chris Mooney, “Research and Destroy”

W Mar 9 Evolution, Morality, and the Meaning of Life
~ ESSAY #2 DUE
~ Read: William Provine, “Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics”
~ William Dembski, “Ten Questions to Ask Your Biology Teacher about Design”
~ Kenneth Miller, “Finding Darwin's God”