It is intended for students to acquire: comprehension of the development through time of the concept of “evolution” so as to understand the background of the Darwinian proposition; identification of the foundations of the Darwinian theory of evolution and of the timeliness of its application; judgment in the analysis of the social extrapolations of the evolutionary reality.
It is intended for students to develop: integrative capacity, connecting the path of the various sciences and their role on the emergence of the idea of evolution; critique skills, through the analysis of Darwin’s book and comments of the author’s profile as well as of the ideas expressed by him.
Introduction – The question of the origin: from myth to science
EVOLUTION – Up to Darwin. From Plato to Renaissance
A history for the Earth
The path to evolution
Darwin
The voyage of the Beagle
“On the Origin of Species” – One long argument...
The “Historical Sketch” of the 3rd edition
The “Introduction”
The structure of the book – Chapters I-IV
The structure of the book – Chapters V-VII
The structure of the book – Chapters VIII-XI
The structure of the book – Chapters – Capítulos XII-XV
Descent with modification + Natural Selection
The subsequent cleavage: Geneticists vs naturalists (till the end of XIX century)
The subsequent cleavage: Geneticists vs naturalists (first quarter XX century)
The Synthesis (1930-1940) and Neo-Darwinism
Punctualism vs. gradualism
Evolution today – the refinement of the theory
Evolution today – the refinement of methodologies
Darwin and Society – creationism vs evolutionism: the origin of the conflict and the institutionalization of the conflict
The theoretical component will be presented preferentially by expositive methodology; the theoretical-practical component will include text analysis, namely from “On the Origin of Species”.
Young, D., 1992. The discovery of Evolution. Natural History Museum, London.
Ridley, M. (ed.), 1997. Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Darwin, C., 1856. On the Origin of Species. Mentor edition (1958), New American Library, N.Y. - http://darwinonline. org.uk/
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