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Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: UCINTEVO31
UCINTEVO31
Evolution, culture and human nature
Course info
Course codeUCINTEVO31
EC7.5
Course goals
Upon completion of the course, student are able to:
  • Discuss the overall implications of evolution as a concept within the life sciences, social sciences and humanities
  • Explain the relevance of evolutionary thinking
  • Understand the misconceptions behind application of evolutionary theory in eugenics and social Darwinism
  • Explain the implications of the evolutionary concept within the context of an individually chosen topic.
  • Indicate the relevant aspects of competition, cooperation and the superorganism concept and in what way these concepts are applicable to humans and human societies
Content
Darwin’s idea of evolution by means of natural selection has united the biological disciplines in the previous century and is currently recognized as a very fruitful concept for Humanities and Social Sciences as well. As Wilson (2007) stated: “Evolutionary theory provides a common language that can erase the distinction between the hard sciences, the social sciences and the humanities”. The application of evolutionary theory to other fields of scientific activity is in line with the Liberal Arts & Sciences ideal and currently leads to a stream of publications on interdisciplinary topics and fields such as: ‘Evolutionary psychology’, ‘Sociobiology’, ‘Evolutionary origin of language’, ‘Genes, mind and culture’, etc.
This course on evolution aims to offer a synthetic view and understanding of human nature, cooperation and culture from the perspective of biological evolution. It allows students of different departments to get acquainted with the evolutionary theory and its manifold implications as well as to practice ‘evolutionary thinking’. ‘Evolutionary thinking’ refers to analyzing complex topics from an evolutionary point of view, applying the concept of evolution to understand what has shaped the human being over millions of years into its current appearance, behavior and cultural expressions. A large part of the course will deal with different aspects of cooperation, including altruism and reciprocity, and its biological and social relevance. Through this course students will combine their knowledge from different departments and disciplines, and construct a fresh and interdisciplinary look at broader scientific, social and cultural issues, all aimed to foster an improved understanding of human nature.
Although Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection has been recognized as one of the great achievements of humankind and as the most profound shift in conceptual thinking in the last millennium, the evolutionary theory nevertheless is also notoriously controversial. Not only in society (ie creationism, intelligent design and eugenics), but also within the academic world groups of scientists question the relevance and applicability of evolutionary thinking to human affairs. In this course some attention will also be given to the arguments and counterarguments that are often used, and which still lead to (heated) debates.

 
Format
Students will read, discuss and present recent papers on developments in the field of ‘evolution, culture and human nature’; they will work in teams on the preparation of a debate session, student-led seminars, excursion or symposium. Throughout the course a specific book (see Course material) is read and the essence of the book will be used as a source of inspiration for individual and/or group projects or as source for in-class discussions.
The last two weeks of the course are focused on a final project that aims at the integration and application of the knowledge gained.
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Kies de Nederlandse taal