This webpage associates topics with readings. The syllabus lists the topic to be covered in class each week. For these topics, the numbered items are required readings. Under some topics, you will find the subheading "Further reading". These are items that I view as either more difficult or less important that the primary list. They are optional.
Some of the topics below are not listed in the syllabus. I include them here for the benefit of students who want to cover them in an essay. All of the readings under these topics are optional.
Chs. 3 (The struggle for existence) and 4 (Natural selection) of Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Origin of Species, 6th. edn.
Ch. 2 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Pp. 6-11 ("Efficiency of Natural Selection") in Jenkin, Fleeming. 1867. Review of the Origin of Species
Davis, A.S. 1871. The North British Review and the Origin of Species
Pp. 71-72 in Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
As Darwin summarizes Jenkin's argument, he makes two mistakes, and accidently proposes a new hypothesis. Can you spot the differences between Jenkin's version and Darwin's? Do Jenkin's conclusions continue to hold under Darwin's version? This discrepancy was pointed out by Michael Bulmer in 2004. (Bulmer's article is not assigned.)
Ch. 1 in Fisher, Ronald A. 1930. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
Morris, Susan W. 1994. Fleeming Jenkin and The Origin of Species: A reassessment. The British Journal for the History of Science, 27:313-343.
Bulmer, Michael. 2004. Did Jenkin's swamping argument invalidate Darwin's theory of natural selection? The British Journal for the History of Science, 37(3):281-297.
Pp. 1-6 of Jenkin, Fleeming. 1867. Review of the Origin of Species. Read from the beginning through the end of the section on "Variability".
Pp 137-140 of Mivart, St. George, 1869. Difficulties of the Theory of Natural Selection.
P. 11 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Ch 2 of Dewar, Douglas. 1931. Difficulties of the Evolution Theory.
Pp 17-25 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
P. 145 of Pictet, Francois Jules. 1973[1860]. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. In (David L. Hull, editor), Darwin and his Critics, pages 142-154. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
P. 127-134 of Miller, Kenneth. 2008. Only a Theory.
Organisms are conventionally classified in nested groups: individuals within species, species within genera, genera within families, and so on. Are such classifications arbitrary, or do they reflect something fundamental? Is the pattern of nested similarities consistent with evolution? This topic is logically a subheading under "Can evolution make big changes".
Pp. 363-381 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Origin of Species, 6th. edn.
Pp. 17-22 (Section on "Difficulty of classification") in Jenkin, Fleeming. 1867. Review of the Origin of Species.
Pp. 86-92 of Dewar, Douglas. 1931. Difficulties of the Evolution Theory.
Pp 25-31 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Ch 12 of Denton, Michael. 1985. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
Chs. 5 (Darwinian DNA) of Fairbanks, Daniel. 2007. Relics of Eden.
Pp. 34-37 of Pritchard, Charles C. 1866. The Continuity of the Schemes of Nature and of Relevation: Note A: On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Pp. 11-17 of Jenkin, Fleeming. 1867. Review of the Origin of Species. Section on "The Lapse of Time".
Pp. 266-270 and 286 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. Ch 10: On the imperfection of the geological record, The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Shapley, Harlow. 1918. The Age of the Earth.
Filmore, David. 2004. An Aging Question
Ch. 7 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Holmes, Arthur. 1913. The Age of the Earth. See especially ch 10.
Lewis, Cherry. 2000. The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth.
Patterson, Claire. 1956 Age of meteorites and the earth. (For the quantitatively inclined.)
Dalrymple, G. Brent. 2007. The ages of the earth, solar system galaxy, and the universe. In: Andrew J. Petto and Laurie R. Godfrey, editors, Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism, pp. 150-179. W.W. Norton, New York.
Ch. 11 of Wells, Jonathan. 2000. From ape to human: the ultimate icon. Icons of Evolution: Why Much of What We Teach about Evolution Is Wrong.
Sherwin, Frank. n.d. The rapidly unraveling thread between DNA and "human evolution."
Ch. 8 (Did humans evolve?) of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Ch. 9 (Are we still evolving?) of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Chs 12-13 (pp 316-362) of Darwin, Charles. 1872. Geographical distribution, The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Ch 3 of Dewar, Douglas. 1931. Difficulties of the Evolution Theory.
Hallam, A. 1972. Continental drift and the fossil record.
Chs. 1 and 6 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
Pp. 143-145 of Mivart, St. George, 1869. Difficulties of the theory of natural election.
Pp. 150-151 of Pictet, Francois Jules. 1973[1860]. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. In (David L. Hull, editor), Darwin and his Critics, pages 142-154. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
P. 40 of Dewar, Haldane, and Davies. 1949. Is Evolution a Myth? A Debate between Douglas Dewar, L. Merson Davies and J.B.S. Haldane. C.A. Watts/Paternoster Press, London.
This is the first of several sections dealing with the same question. This section considers the question from the perspective of the period from the 1860s to the 1930s.
Pp. 31-34 of Pritchard, Charles C. 1866. The Continuity of the Schemes of Nature and of Relevation: Note A: On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Murphy, Joseph John. 19 Nov 1866. Presidential Address to the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. Northern Whig.
Pp. 143-167 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. Difficulties on theory: Ch 6 of The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Ch 7 and pp 83-86 of Dewar, Douglas. 1931. Difficulties of the Evolution Theory.
Ch 4-5 of Rogers, Alan. 2011. The Evidence for Evolution.
P. 145 of Pictet, Francois Jules. 1973[1860]. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. In (David L. Hull, editor), Darwin and his Critics, pages 142-154. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
This section, like the one just above, is about the evolution of complex adaptations. We consider here the idea of irreducible complexity, as popularized by Michael Behe during the 1990s.
Behe, Michael. 1996. Evidence for intelligent design from biochemistry.
Adami, Christoph. 2006. Reducible complexity. Science, 321:61-63.
Miller, Kenneth. 2004a. The flagellum unspun.
Miller, Kenneth. 2004b. The evolution of vertebrate blood clotting.
Behe, Michael. 1996. Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. Free Press, New York.
Rogers, Alan. n.d. Irreducible complexity.
Ken Miller. 2009. part 1 Smoke and mirrors, whales and lampreys: a guest post by Ken Miller.
Ken Miller. 2009. part 2 Smoke and mirrors, whales and lampreys: a guest post by Ken Miller.
Ken Miller. 2009. part 3 Looking forward.
Kitzmiller v. Dover Decision See sections C (Federal jurisprudential legal landscape), and E.4. (Whether ID is science).
Pp. 17-36, 53-74, 79-81 of Miller, Kenneth. 2008. Only a Theory.
This section and the next are also about complex adaptations. They focus on the probabilistic approach to this subject.
Chandra Wickramasinghe. 1981 Testimony in McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, 1981.
Wickramasinghe introduced the probabilistic argument into the modern debate about evolution. He is best-known for discovering organic molecules in space. Scientists are still working on this subject. Wickramasinghe also argued that some meteorites contain fossils, a view that has not received wide support. In reading Wickramasinghe's testimony, focus on his probabilistic argument.
Denton, Michael. 1985. Beyond the reach of chance. Ch 13 of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
Dawkins, Richard. 1986 Excerpt from "Accumulating small change," The Blind Watchmaker.
Dembski, William A. 1998. Science and Design.
Pp 215-224 of Meyer, Stephen C. 2009. Beyond the reach of chance. Ch 10 of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.
Stenger, Victor. 2007. Physics, cosmology, and the new creationism. In: Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism.
To understand Stenger's critique of Dembski, you need to understand how Dembski's definition of information differs from the one conventionally used in information theory. I'll explain that in class, using these notes.
Dembski, William A. 1998. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities. Cambridge University Press.
Dembski, William A. 2004. The logical underpinnings of intelligent design. pp. 311-330 of Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA.
Dembski, William A. 2006. No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence. Rowan and Littlefield.
Perakh, Mark. 2006. There is a free lunch after all: William Dembski's wrong answers to irrelevant questions. In: Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism.
A great diversity of animal life appeared rapidly early in the Cambrian period. This has long been seen as a challenge to evolution. Here is how Adam Sedgewick put it in 1860:
To begin then, with the Palaeozoic rocks. Surely we ought on the transmutation theory, to find near their base great deposits with none but the lowest forms of organic life. I know of no such deposits.
In the readings below, Wells uses the Cambrian as a vehicle for attacking evolution. Lane and Knoll summarize recent research.
Pages 9-10, 18-19, and 27-28 of Dewar, Haldane, and Davies. 1949. Is Evolution a Myth? A Debate between Douglas Dewar, L. Merson Davies and J.B.S. Haldane. C.A. Watts/Paternoster Press, London.
Ch 3 of Wells, Jonathan. 2000. Darwin's tree of life. Icons of Evolution: Why Much of What We Teach about Evolution Is Wrong.
Dawkins, Richard. 2009 Excerpt from "Missing link? What do you mean missing?," The Greatest Show on Earth.
Ch 4 of Lane, Nick. 2002. Fuse to the Cambrian explosion: snowball earth, environmental change, and the first animals. Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World.
Chs. 11-12 of Knoll, Andrew H. 2003. Life on a Young Planet.
P. 149 of Pictet, Francois Jules. 1973[1860]. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. In (David L. Hull, editor), Darwin and his Critics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Ch 10 and p 408 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. On the imperfection of the geological record. The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Ch. 11 of Darwin, Charles. 1872. On the geological succession of organic beings. The Origin of Species, 6th edn.
Ch 10 of Dewar, Douglas. 1931. Difficulties of the Evolution Theory.
P. 19 of Dewar, Haldane, and Davies. 1949. Is Evolution a Myth? A Debate between Douglas Dewar, L. Merson Davies and J.B.S. Haldane. C.A. Watts/Paternoster Press, London.
Ch 8 of Denton, Michael. 1985. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
Shubin, Neil. 2008. Your Inner Fish.
Bowler, P. 2001. Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain.
Coyne, J. 2009. Why Evolution is True.
Fairbanks, Daniel. 2009. Relics of Eden.
Gosse, Philip H. 1857. Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot.
Dewar, Davies, and Haldane. 1949. Is Evolution a Myth? A Debate between Douglas Dewar, L. Merson Davies, and JBS Haldane.
Hull, D. 1973. Darwin and his Critics.
Lyell, Charles. 1830. Principles of Geology. See chapter 9, pages 144-166.
Numbers, R. 1993. The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism.