Document Type
Syllabus
Publication Date
Fall 9-1-2024
Course Description
The Philosopher Daniel Dennett once called evolution “the single best idea anyone ever had.” If this claim has any merit, then surely evolutionary perspectives can shed light on important questions about human nature in general, and issues like cooperation, aggression, sex and gender, aesthetics, emotion, cognition, moral judgments, and environmental concerns in particular. We will look at current and historical attempts to develop scientific accounts of human nature, and examine their strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. The course offers an opportunity to explore how the “single best idea anyone ever had” can be applied to human nature and important contemporary concerns. This course examines some of the evidence for and implications of the proposition that our bodies and brains are organized to some extent in advance of experience. We seem to have some physiological and psychological “factory default settings or tendencies,” but our development, emotions, and actions can also be dramatically shaped by individual experience, culture, our current setting, and (I hope!) by our own conscious and ethical choices. How can we make sense of our complicated condition? What is our human nature? What are the specific behavioral, cognitive, and emotional adaptive mechanisms that evolutionary psychologists, biologists, and anthropologists think they have demonstrated? Perhaps even more importantly, what is the nature of the evidence for all this? How can we reconcile evolved predispositions with our obvious flexibility? Why are evolutionary approaches, especially to human behavior, so controversial? If there are evolutionary forces underlying human behavior, what implications are there for society (if any)? Can we use our knowledge of evolved selves to improve our lives, and inform our ethics and behavior? You may be surprised at some of the ways knowledge of our biological/psychological predispositions helps shed light on social and cultural issues. The topic is interdisciplinary by its very nature, and we will draw on ideas and information from psychology, biology, anthropology, medicine, philosophy, economics, and other fields.
Recommended Citation
Moore, Kevin E., "HONR 300B Evolution and Human Nature Moore Fall 2024" (2024). All Course Syllabi. 620, Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University.
https://scholarship.depauw.edu/records_syllabi/620
Student Outcomes
Demonstrate increased understanding and appreciation of scientific ideas and achievements, and their limitations Further develop and maintain a high level of openness and curiosity Being open to new ideas in the course Being open to challenge, change, and refinement during reflection on the material, and especially in our discussions with class members Strengthen integrative and interdisciplinary thinking Increase our knowledge and awareness of a range of ideas and perspectives Increase our ability to identify and integrate/explore connections between perspectives and disciplines, and consider the implications and applications of those connections Increase our ability to link ideas from this course with our own fields, majors, and perspectives Increase our ability to see connections between evolved predispositions and social/economic/cultural/historical forces and structures, individual development, and ethics, with respect to important cultural and social issues Improve communication of ideas Increase our ability to communicate our own perspectives and insights, and to understand the perspectives and insights of other people, in writing and especially in discussion Maintain and further develop intellectual courage Some of our topics and discussions will be challenging to our ideas and beliefs; we should have the courage to explore those issues honestly, to develop intellectual tools to do so, and take those tools with us to other settings Develop and facilitate respect and appreciation for diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and expertise Respect for other ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are a core foundation of the Honor Scholar Program; strengthening our skills on this dimension is vital for the kinds of conversations we will have in this course