| |
An exploration of the life sciences, past and present. Designed to put life sciences into philosophical, historical, and ethical perspective, the colloquium focuses on key problems and their treatment through history (e.g. origin of life, classification of organisms, energy conservation), processes of discovery and reasoning (e.g. evidence vs. revelation, eureka-moments, serendipity, logical reasoning, scientific research, cloning). The colloquium also examines vogue ideas (e.g. biodiversity, esprit de systeme, hopeful monsters, survival of the fittest, human 'races', biofeedback) as well as biological misconceptions, deceptions, and hoaxes (e.g. preformation, phrenology, creative Darwinism, Piltdown man, intelligent design). Prerequisite: Membership in the Honors Program or permission of the instructor.
|
