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Cursus: FI-MHPSHLS
FI-MHPSHLS
History and Philosophy of the Modern Life Sciences
Cursus informatie
CursuscodeFI-MHPSHLS
Studiepunten (EC)7,5
Cursusdoelen
This course aims to:
- acquaint students with some of the major themes of the history of modern biology in its social context
- provide an entrance into several important historiographical  debates in the history of biology
- enable students to discuss recent developments in biology from an historical perspective
- enable students to write a paper on a topic relevant to one of the course's themes, based on primary and secondary literature.
Inhoud
This course on the historical development of modern biology (since the second half of the nineteenth century) will pay due attention to the development of evolutionary biology, from Darwin’s work to the present. Furthermore, we shall look into the history of various fields of twentieth century biological research that have, for good reasons, piqued the interest of historians and philosophers  of biology in recent years. Examples of these include the history of ecology (and ideas about ‘nature’ connected to it), the nature of the Evolutionary Synthesis of the 1930s-1950s, the origins of modern theories of conservation, the ‘animal turn’ (history of human-animal relationships), the origins of molecular biology, the backgrounds of sociobiology/evolutionary psychology.
Assessment will be on the basis of participation (30%) and a paper (70%). The format includes a small number of lectures, reading reports, group discussions and presentations.
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