On July 21 we'll do a field-trip to Dayton TN, for the annual dramatic re-enactment of the 1925 Scopes Trial, in the very courthouse - the very "pews" - where it happened!
And after the show we'll gather here to discuss it. Can't wait!
Meanwhile, we'll be reading and discussing Summer For The Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Edward J. Larson... (CSPAN)
and
Trials of the Monkey by Darwin's own great-great grandson Matthew Chapman. He put in an appearance at the Southern Festival of Books in 2001 (curious sidenote: I was also on the program at the Festival that year, but somehow missed this)... (CSPAN)
Jon Meacham, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, on Scopes...
A Defense Expert's Impressions of the Scopes Trial by Winterton C. Curtis (1956)
Inherit the Wind... cross-examination scene... "this community is an insult to the world" (YouT)...
Evolution (pbs): 2'45" Dennett, 3'28" Gould...
Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist & author of The Mating Mind(2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015), on Sam Harris's podcast...
A Defense Expert's Impressions of the Scopes Trial by Winterton C. Curtis (1956)
Inherit the Wind... cross-examination scene... "this community is an insult to the world" (YouT)...
Evolution (pbs): 2'45" Dennett, 3'28" Gould...
Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist & author of The Mating Mind(2001), Mating Intelligence (2008), Spent (2009), and Mate (2015), on Sam Harris's podcast...
Five best books on evolution, acc'ing to Jerry Coyne... Children's books on the Big Bang and evolution...
Carl Sagan Explains Evolution (YouT)...
Carl Sagan Explains Evolution (YouT)...
“The secrets of evolution are death and time—the deaths of enormous numbers of lifeforms that were imperfectly adapted to the environment; and time for a long succession of small mutations.” Cosmos
Two billion years ago our ancestors were microbes; a halfbillion years ago, fish; a hundred million years ago, something like mice; ten million years ago, arboreal apes; and a million years ago, proto-humans puzzling out the taming of fire. Our evolutionary lineage is marked by mastery of change. In our time, the pace is quickening. Pale Blue Dot
“If the Earth were as old as a person, a typical organism would be born, live and die in a sliver of a second. We are fleeting, transitional creatures, snowflakes fallen on the hearth fire.” Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors... g'reads
At our first meeting I'll probably mention for the first but not the last time my personal connection to evolution in America, the gentleman I call my first landlord, Dr. Winterton C. Curtis of the University of Missouri. He was in Dayton in the summer of '25 (though not allowed to testify, like all the other scientific witnesses on hand), I was in his home in the late '50's, he was in my home pulling dollar bills "from my ear" in the mid-'60s... My late father Dr. James C. Oliver (MU, DVM '60), in other respects the opposite of a mystic, was convinced that Dr. C. somehow implanted in me my lifelong fascination with evolution. I don't know about that, but I do know that Dr. C.'s neglected classic Science and Human Affairs From the Viewpoint of Biology (1922) is a real gem. (See his thoughts on "the humanistic philosophy of life" below*)
We'll observe some ground-rules, mostly having to do with the way we engage whatever differences on this topic we may encounter. I'm deeply committed to the evolutionary hypothesis myself, and find the evidence for it compelling and uplifting. Others, especially in our region of the country (just up the road from Dayton) have other ideas. I don't know if any of us in the course will clash, but the rule we must all observe is: be kind, be civil, don't be a jerk.
And let's all bear in mind: we're not here to resolve the evolutionary debate, to go deep into the weeds of biological science, to get bogged down in technical points of dispute, or take up the arcana of creationist polemics. We are here to study the ways in which the idea of evolution has shaped and been shaped by its reception in America... to notice its implications for education, philosophy, and our shared future.
And Rule #1: Let's have some fun discussing and learning about this fascinating topic!
==
*
Texts: Summer For the Gods (SG), Trials of the Monkey (TM)
==
*
Texts: Summer For the Gods (SG), Trials of the Monkey (TM)
1. June 6 - Introductions, overview, author sign-ups, peripatetic philosophy, scorecard
2. June 13 - SG 1-2, TM 1-6
3. June 20 - SG 3-4, TM 7-11
4. June 27 - SG 5-6, TM 12-16
5. July 4 - Independence Day Holiday, no class
6. July 11 - SG 7-8, TM 17-23
7. July 18 - SG 9-10, TM 24-30
July 21 (Saturday) - Field Trip to Dayton, TN - Historic re-enactment of the 1925 Scopes Trial, Rhea County Courthouse, 1 pm
8. July 25 - Final report presentations
9. August 1 - Final report presentations
10. August 8 - Final report presentations, Exam
==
We'll have objective-format quizzes over the readings in each class, and a final exam drawn from the quizzes. We'll all submit quiz questions, discussion questions, and relevant comments posted to this site in advance of each class. Write down your answers to the quiz questions, we'll go over them in class. I'll encourage us all to be peripatetic whenever possible (so plan to dress accordingly, with particular attention to footwear).
Again, everyone should post quiz questions, discussion questions, and relevant comments to this site in advance of each class. In the scorecard game I'll explain, you get a base for each of those... and an entire run if you post a relevant weekly essay of at least 250 words. (4 bases = 1 run).
The two students with the most runs at the end of the summer do not have to take the final exam.
Final report presentations. Select a third text to use as a primary source for your final report, which you can think of as a book report/review consisting of an in-class presentation and a blog post. I'll suggest some possibilities, beginning with those mentioned on this page...
- Science and Human Affairs From the Viewpoint of Biology by Winterton C. Curtis
- Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
- Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen
- Everybody's Story: Wising Up to the Epic of Evolution by Loyal Rue
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett
- The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy by John Dewey
- Darwin's Dogs by Emma Townshend
- Darwin's Ghosts by Rebecca Stott
- Living With Darwin by Philip Kitcher
- Charles Darwin-Voyaging by Janet Browne
- Charles Darwin-The Power of Place by Janet Browne
- Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life by Adam Gopnik
- Five best books on evolution, acc'ing to Jerry Coyne
- 40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin®, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania by Matthew Chapman
- The Book That Changed America: How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation by Randall Fuller
- The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - and Us by Richard O. Prum
- The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will by Kenneth R. Miller
- Why Darwin Matters: The Case for Evolution and Against Intelligent Design by Michael Shermer
- Varieties of Religious Experience by William James AND Varieties of Scientific Experience by Carl Sagan
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
- The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins
- The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
Class format. Our course is scheduled as a weekly classroom marathon, Wednesdays 5-9 pm, but one of us has already improvised another plan. We're all free to do likewise. We can be flexible. But I propose that we follow this scheme, when we meet:
Prior to final reports in our last three sessions, we'll spend the first hour of each class on Summer For the Gods and related discussion, followed by a brief intermission (long enough for a bathroom break and a trip to the food court, for those who need it); then, about an hour on Trials of the Monkey... If the weather is temperate enough we'll spend some of that time outdoors, peripatetic-style. If it's too hot, we'll roam the halls a bit while we talk. Then, we'll come back to the classroom to wrap up discussion and get a jump-start on collaboratively co-creating next week's quiz. (I suggest we each try to post a quiz question from every fifth page of our assigned texts, each starting on a different page so as to avoid redundancy and achieve optimal coverage.)
Then, if there's still time on the clock and gas in the tank, we can conclude our last hour even more summerishly, perhaps at a remote location like the Boulevard, Green Dragon, or Mayday.
There's a very good discussion of the Scopes Trial in Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, noting that the trial played differently in the north and the south.
The final report should also include a blog post of at least 500 words and any relevant links, graphics, videos or other "bloggish" content you find appropriate. Final draft due by our last class date, Aug.8-but feel free to post interim work-in-progress drafts in the meantime, to use in conjunction with your presentation and to solicit constructive feedback from the class.
==
If we wish we can delegate quiz-building this way: those whose question intervals fall on even-numbered pages take the first half of the material, odd the second half.
Prior to final reports in our last three sessions, we'll spend the first hour of each class on Summer For the Gods and related discussion, followed by a brief intermission (long enough for a bathroom break and a trip to the food court, for those who need it); then, about an hour on Trials of the Monkey... If the weather is temperate enough we'll spend some of that time outdoors, peripatetic-style. If it's too hot, we'll roam the halls a bit while we talk. Then, we'll come back to the classroom to wrap up discussion and get a jump-start on collaboratively co-creating next week's quiz. (I suggest we each try to post a quiz question from every fifth page of our assigned texts, each starting on a different page so as to avoid redundancy and achieve optimal coverage.)
Then, if there's still time on the clock and gas in the tank, we can conclude our last hour even more summerishly, perhaps at a remote location like the Boulevard, Green Dragon, or Mayday.
There's a very good discussion of the Scopes Trial in Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, noting that the trial played differently in the north and the south.
Kurt Andersen also discusses Scopes in his Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History.
Also recommended: Everybody's Story: Wising Up to the Epic of Evolution by Loyal Rue:
==
"NEXT"
Summer '18-MALA 6040, Evolution in America -
Here's a pic from our last, peripatetic class... Henry Adams (who fretted about the 2d Law of Thermodynamics, despite William James's counterpoint that the occupants of an entropic universe need not be unhappy) said "the chief wonder of [our] education is that it did not ruin everybody involved in it." By that standard, I think we had a successful summer semester!! Good luck, all!
- August 8 - Final report presentations - Pete, Everybody's Story: wising up to the epic of evolution by Loyal Rue; Steve, The Language of God by Francis Collins; Exam, drawn from even-numbered quiz questions. (Thanks for the Study Guide, Don) Remember, the top two run-scorers are exempt: congrats, Don & Pete!
The course evaluation period begins Monday, August 6th at 8 am and ends Wednesday, August 8th at 11:59 pm.
You may evaluate your courses anytime during the evaluation period. The evaluation is mobile friendly...
Your feedback requested & appreciated: should I offer an MALA version of my Philosophy of Happiness course next summer? Or, a course on the history and future of peripatetic (walking) philosophy? Or a repeat of, or variation on, this course? Perhaps a course on Experience and Identity: how our experiences define or fail to define us, individually and as a species. Texts might include William James's Varieties of Religious Experience and Carl Sagan's Varieties of Scientific Experience... Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Experience"... Or, do you have other suggestions?
REPORTERS, please post an assignment and a quiz (6+ quiz questions and at least a couple of discussion questions) ASAP prior to your presentation date so we can all add supplemental questions & comments. The assignment can be a reading selection, a YouTube video, a podcast etc.
To post your assignment, scroll down to near the bottom of this page to find "Step By Step Instructions to Embed a PDF On Blogger"... OR give us a link where we can find the material you'd like us to read/watch/hear... OR tell us which scanned pages in Google Books (Jy 25) (Aug1) (Aug 8) we should read.
"The ignorant do not have a right to an audience"...Philosophers in the rain/perfect day for a stroll..."The genius of Charles Darwin" (video)...Democracy in Chains...Nancy MacLean (video)... Scopes re-enactment slideshow... The American Experience documentary series featured the Scopes Trial... and so did In Search of History (featuring Stephen Jay Gould's commentary-the better of the two, in my opinion)... the NYTimes podcast "The Daily" featured the ACLU and gave Scopes a nod on Monday Jy 30... The Tangled Tree, a new book by David Quammen
I've acquired The Creation, so we'll definitely finish screening it sooner or later. Also, I've found my copy of Inherit the Wind... so we can take a longer look at it too, when time allows.
NOTE: your online participation is expected, even if you cannot join us in person. But please do join us in person.
We've not all been posting weekly essays and contributing to the quizzes. Do we need to take a bit more class time for that, perhaps at the beginning?
If we wish we can delegate quiz-building this way: those whose question intervals fall on even-numbered pages take the first half of the material, odd the second half.
Remember to open your author invitations, so you can post your weekly essays (250+ words, worth 4 bases, a whole run). Keep a log of everything you post, and when, so you can claim your bases & runs on the scorecard. You get a base for for each question, comment, link etc., and for each correctly-answered quiz question, and a run for every 4 bases.
And, you get a run (4 bases) for your weekly mini-essay (250+ words). Try to post everything byTuesday before class, so we'll all have an opportunity to respond to your thoughts and questions.
==
Quiz June 13, SG 1-2, TM 1-6
Quiz June 20, SG 3-4, TM 7-11... remember to post quiz & discussion questions for both our texts, and lots of comments (or if you prefer, contrary to WJB, interpretations) and links... Happy Fathers Day! Darwin as family man... Darwin on family, work, and happiness...
Quiz June 20, SG 3-4, TM 7-11... remember to post quiz & discussion questions for both our texts, and lots of comments (or if you prefer, contrary to WJB, interpretations) and links... Happy Fathers Day! Darwin as family man... Darwin on family, work, and happiness...
Quiz June 27, SG 5-6, TM 12-16... Go over last week's quiz... My colleague Bombardi is at the Green Dragon again tonight 'til 8:30, let's adjourn by 7:30 if we can... good 3d meeting, though we missed several of you. You missed some scintillating discussion, a peripatetic stroll in mild & lovely weather, and Part 1 of our screening of "The Creation." It pre-empted our review of the quiz, so we'll be doubling up next time.
Quiz July 11, SG 7-8, TM 17-23. Let's all officially commit to our final report topics and nail down our presentation dates by today. Final reporttopics/texts - note the expanded bibliography of suggestions. You can post edited, in-progress drafts of your final blogs at any time, if you'd like to solicit early feedback.
Quiz July 18, SG 9-10, TM 24-30
July 21 (Saturday) - Field Trip to Dayton, TN! - Historic re-enactment of the 1925 Scopes Trial, Rhea County Courthouse, 1 pm Eastern Time(don't come late like Matthew Chapman). Any of us who want to travel together can meet in front of the library Starbucks at 9 am (we lose an hour to the time zone). Additional tickets can be purchased directly from scopesfestival.com.
July 25 - Final report presentation - Don, The Book That Changed America: How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation by Randall Fuller (excerpt) AND The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy by John Dewey; [Abi's presentation postponed]
August 1 - Final report presentations - Chris,The Blind Watchmaker: why the evidence of evolution reveals a world without design by Richard Dawkins; Chase, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan; Abigail,Darwin's Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists by Rebecca Stott
If you've always wanted to be in pictures, here's a note from Dawn McCormack:
"We have been asked to find 30 people who can act as law school students in two video shoots on July 31st. Here is the info I have: The shoot is on July 31st, and we're basically looking for two groups of 15 students, one from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM in the Honors Building, and another from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM and the Miller Education Center on Bell Street. We're looking for a diverse group of students or staff members that look like they could pass as law school students (avg. age ~25). Please reach out to undergraduate and graduate students who might be interested, and have them contact me via email: dawn.mccormack@mtsu.edu"
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CoPhi returns on August 27, 2018
Fall 2018, PHIL 1030-
#H-01 TR 11:20-12:45
#H-02 TR 01:00-02:25
#H-03 MW 12:40-02:05
Texts:
American Philosophy: A Love Storyby John Kaag
A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
The Joys of Walking ed. Edwin Mitchell
Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen
Up@dawn... Up@dawn 2.0... Osopher(tw)
#H-01 TR 11:20-12:45
#H-02 TR 01:00-02:25
#H-03 MW 12:40-02:05
Texts:
American Philosophy: A Love Storyby John Kaag
A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
The Joys of Walking ed. Edwin Mitchell
Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen
Up@dawn... Up@dawn 2.0... Osopher(tw)
300 James Union Building (JUB), MW 4-5 & by appt.
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: go through the links below, find and fix the broken ones.
See "Previously" at the bottom of the page for old announcements
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