[Ecoed] Re: Origin recommendation:

[Boose, David]

I agree with Lara and others who find that reading Darwin is not only
possible but desirable for undergraduates. True, reading the whole thing
may be a bit much (it is, as Darwin says, "one long argument" [emphasis
mine]). But it is interesting for the strength and structure of his
argument, the concepts and ideas he foreshadowed in his questioning and
speculating, and for the number of things he just plain got wrong. I
regularly have students read chapters 2 - 4: Variation Under Nature,
Struggle for Existence, and Natural Selection. 

 

Lara and others have also mentioned the importance of understanding the
context Darwin wrote in. In that regard, I'd like to recommend an
interesting and very readable discussion of Alfred Russel Wallace. In
the book, "The Song of the Dodo", author David Quammen has a section
called, "The Man Who Knew Islands". In it, he describes how Wallace's
approach to natural history differed from Darwin's, and how that
approach led him to develop many of the same ideas that Darwin had. The
two men were very different, and it is interesting to read Quammen's
comparison. It's also interesting for students to think about why the
two men have been treated so differently by history.

 

Just a thought.

 

David

******************************

David L. Boose, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

Gonzaga University

502 East Boone Avenue

Spokane, WA 99258

(509) 313-6634

boose at gonzaga.edu <mailto:boose at gonzaga.edu> 

 

From: ecoed-bounces at ecoed.net [mailto:ecoed-bounces at ecoed.net] On Behalf
Of Lara
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:07 PM
To: Steve Corso; ecoed at ecoed.net
Subject: Re: [Ecoed] Re: Origin recommendation:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/

 

In my sophomore undergraduate work at Pomona College, CA

we compared early editions to later ones, in order to note

differences in wording that Darwin made under social pressures

of his time.  While there are only a few changes, they create 

pronounced differences in the way Darwin's theory would be

read, critiqued, and ultimately accepted at least into the 

intellectual body of (scientific) knowledge of the time.

 

At least at the college or grad level, please don't 

water down the study of Darwin's work -- 

thinking about evolution affects how we think about 

relativity, choices, statistics, social and environmental 

challenges of our time.  

 

There are also a couple of terrific (shorter) biographies of Darwin's
life that

help to outline and explain the pressures hhe was under, how he lived

his scientific life, and how Wallace's explorations affected Darwin's
work.

 

Regards, Lara 

	"You must be the change you wish
	to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

 

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