Readings

1. Wordsworth's "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798", with an excellent commentary and additional images

2. Some background on travel, tourism and Wordsworth's poem

3. Design, the adaptation of means to ends, is a hard concept to pin down, given its many contexts. Here are some dictionary definitions and other discussions

4. A useful Wikipedia segment on design

5. Poet Robert Frost's poem titled "Design." How do his ideas of design in nature compare with Wordsworth's?

The Holy Bible: The Book of Genesis. First 3 sections. St. Anthony Guild Press, 1948.

1. Genesis, from King James Bible

2. World's creation myths

3. Discussion of science and faith

4. Discussion of the creation from a religious perspective

5. The Day—Age theory of creation

6. Excellent blog on broad speculative cosmological questions

Aristotle. Physics. Book II. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199540280.

1. Book II of Aristotle's Physics

2. A brief summary of Aristotle's biological discoveries

3. A brief discussion of Aristotle's Physics

4. General background on Aristotle

5. A review of the concept of teleology or purpose in nature

6. This set of notes explores aspects of Aristotle's 4 causes in the framework of Ancient Greek thought

Some reading topics

1. Do the inhabitants of Wonderland live in a nature governed by Aristotelian chance (Aristotle, Physics, pp. 20–30) or uniformity (p. 32)? Both? Neither?
2. What happens to Aristotle's four factors or causes in Wonderland? What, if any, are the patterns in the events of the narrative?
3. Does the creation account in Genesis conflict with an Aristotelian nature?
4. What does Aristotle mean by a telic world or nature (p. 37)? Do you agree with Aristotle's tooth proof for the telic view of nature (p. 38)?
5. How does the idea of design apply to the world of Genesis? Wonderland? Aristotle's Physics?

Hume, D. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Preface and Parts 1–5. Penguin, 1990. ISBN: 9780140445367.

1. Hume's Dialogues

2. A comprehensive website on David Hume, with texts and excerpts of his main works

3. Hume's famous statement on miracles

4. Occam's razor

5. Naturalism as a world view

Some reading topics

1. Hume's listener, Pamphilus, refers at the start of the Dialogues to the accurate philosophical turn of Cleanthes, the careless skepticism of Philo, and the rigid inflexible orthodoxy of Demea. Whose position do you agree with most—that of Cleanthes (natural theologist), Philo (skepticism), or Demea (orthodoxy)?
2. How strong a case do you think Cleanthes makes in his description of the world as a great, wonderful machine of a supernatural being? (Chapter 2).
3. Is this case consistent with Cleanthes' earlier arguments that Copernicus and Newton have shown how God works through natural laws?
4. Which of the three discussants is closest to Aristotle's idea that nature is a telic world? Which is closest to Wordsworth's vision of nature? Which discussant would feel most comfortable in Wonderland?
5. Is Cleanthes' argument about the eye in Part III convincing? Why?

Paley, W. Natural Theology. Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 5–15, 22, 26–27, and 35–44. ISBN: 9780199535750.

1. Paley's Natural Theology

2. William Paley—general background

3. A major pro–intelligent design website

4. A thorough but skeptical review of intelligent design arguments

5. Wikipedia survey of Intelligent design arguments

6. A New Yorker article on intelligent design

7. An evolutionary account of the development of the bacterial flagellum, previously thought irreducibly complex

8. A Primer on the Anthropic Principle

Some reading topics

1. Paley states that there cannot be design without a designer (p. 10). In what sense is this true? In what sense false?
2. What is the point of the eye – telescope comparison and how well does it work?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Paley's analogical method of reasoning?
4. Why does Paley think God used contrivances to make Nature work?
5. Does the parallel structure of animals pose any special problem for Paley's argument?

Malthus, T. Preface, Chapters 1–3, and 9 in An Essay on the Principle of Population. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199540457.

1. Principle of Population

2. A brief but useful website for understanding Thomas Malthus

3. A real–time world population counter

4. A real–time worldometer

5. Another excellent website on Thomas Malthus

6. This website explores the powerful effects of exponentialist phenomena

7. This page explains the idea of exponential growth, using the Rule of 70 approach

8. A modified Malthusian growth model for populations

9. Voluntary human extinction movement

Some reading topics for Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population

[Read chapters 1–3, chapter 9.]

1. To what extent, if any, do you think Malthus's concept of the Natural Inequality holds in an age of advanced technology? Does technology have the potential to eliminate the Malthusian predicament?
2. According to Adam Smith, self–interest drives the development of an economy that benefits everyone by providing more opportunity. This self–interest could be argued to be instinctual, un–self–conscious behavior. In Malthus's system, instinct, which may lead to the development of an economy, leads also to the production of excess population. Can the views of Smith and Malthus be reconciled?
3. Malthus introduces the term Struggle for Existence in Chapter 3. How does this term apply to his system? Is it used in any way that suggests evolutionary process?

Darwin, C. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in On the Origin of Species. Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780313317484. [Preview with Google Books]

1. Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

2. Excellent short biographical sketch of Darwin

3. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

4. Biology and Evolutionary Theory

5. Summary of Lamarckian evolution

6. Speciation

Some reading questions

1. What reasoning is behind Darwin's strategy of talking first about Variation Under Domestication? (See, especially, pp. 30–31). What do humans select for?
2. What are some of the problems of defining a species?
3. In Chapter III, Struggle for Existence, Darwin talks about a Web of complex relations (pp. 73–75). In what ways does this Web of relations affect the struggle for existence among individuals of the same species?
4. According to Adam Smith, self–interest drives the development of an economy that benefits everyone by providing more opportunity. Does this principle of an expanding economy benefiting everyone, work in a Darwinian economy?
5. How is Natural Selection like Artificial Selection? How is it different?

1. Darwin's taxonomy chart in the Origin

Chapter 7 (Instinct), Chapter 10 (Geological Succession, Appearance of New Species, Disappearance of Species), Chapter 13 (The Natural System, Morphology, Embryology), Chapter 14 (Summary). [CD]

1. An excellent summary of geological periods illustrating the extreme age of the earth

Some reading topics:

1. In what way is instinct like a physiological organ in Darwin's system?
2. What are some of the ways in which the topic of geological succession defines the spatial characteristics of evolution?
3. How does Darwin use the natural system of classification to support his theory?
4. In what ways does Embryology support Darwin's views?

Butler, S. Chapters 1, 7, 9–12, 15, and 17 in Erewhon. Indypublish, 2008. ISBN: 9781437833966.

1. Utopias in America

2. Utopia

3. The question of social Darwinism. Was Darwin a social Darwinist? Was Butler?

4. Exploration of the literary notion of satire.

5. Image archive about eugenics in America

6. Evolutionary art (PDF - 5.12MB)

Some reading topics

1. What explains the extraordinary beauty of the Erewhonian people (Chapter 7, pp. 78 ff.).
2. Discuss the Erewhonian trial system (pp. 112–117).
3. What are some of the targets of Butler's satire? In what ways are they similar to those of Candide?
4. What is the role of Yudgrun in Erewhonian society? (Chapter 17, pp. 156–161). Is there a Yudgrun in our contemporary society?
5. In what way does evolution contribute to the world view of Erewhon?

Wiener, N. God and Golem, Inc.: A Comment on Certain Points where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion. MIT Press, 1966, pp. 1–69. ISBN: 9780262730112. [Preview with Google Books]

1. Photos of Norbert Wiener

2. Short article on Wiener.

3. Definition of Cybernetics

4. Evolutionary systems and artificial life.

5. Cybernetic ethics.

6. A brief history of automatons.

7. Concept of the Golem

8. The golem automatic machine project

9. Translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

10. A useful thread about Baldwinian evolution compared to Lamarckian evolution

Some reading topics

1. Do you agree with Wiener's definition for machine learning on p. 14?
2. What does Wiener mean by phylogenetic learning? (pp. 13, 27–28). How does this kind of learning compare with individual (ontogenic) learning?
3. What do machines and organisms have in common in respect to reproduction? (pp. 45–48)?
4. What point about technology is Wiener trying to make with his tale of the Monkeys Paw? (pp. 58–60)
5. Are there purposes expressed by technological operations that conflict with human purposes? (pp. 64–65).

1. Stevenson's book

2. An excellent centenary exhibition and brief summary of Stevenson's life given at the university of South Carolina. See especially Island 6 of the exhibition, which deals with J&H

3. A website specializing in Stevenson

4. Concepts of degeneration

5. Section on reversion from Darwin's Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication

6. Atavism in science and popular literature

Some reading topics

1. Why does Hyde's appearance seem so shocking to Utterson?
2. To what extent do Hyde's personality traits draw on instincts all primates, including humans, share?
3. Why does Jekyll find Hyde so fascinating?
4. Are there any Darwinian interpretations we can place on the Jekyll–Hyde syndrome?
5. What is the implication of the fact that a mere drug separates Jekyll from Hyde?

1. The Time Machine

2. Short biography of Wells

3. The concept of homeostasis

4. NOVA site on time travel

5. BLTC Research

Some Reading Topics

1. Compare the dystopian visions of Wells and Butler. Both use evolutionary themes, but in very different ways.
2. Could human society regress in the way that Wells suggests in his characterization of the Eloi and Morlocks?
3. Are Wells's creatures reminiscent of Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde in any way?
4. Does Wells's novel reflect any of the problems of Huxley's Evolution and Ethics?