HIST 395 - Advanced Seminar

FDR: HU
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: At least junior standing, 15 credits in history, or consent of the instructor. Prerequisites may vary by topic. A seminar offered from time to time depending on student interest and staff availability, in a selected topic or problem in history. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Fall 2012 topic:

HIST 395: Seminar: Darwin and his Critics: the History of Evolutionary Biology (3). The theory of organic evolution is widely considered one of the greatest discoveries of modern science, impacting science and society alike. By and large, the theory has been identified with Darwin and his famous On the Origin of Species. Yet, to what extent is Darwinian theory a cultural construct rather than a factual discovery? In opposition to orthodox Darwinians, such as Ernst Mayr and Richard Dawkins, there have been many critics, ranging from intelligent design advocates in the Anglo-American world to structuralist evolutionary thinkers in the Germanic world, the latter often allied to liberal Christianity. (HU) Rupke.