Philosophy 3752-04/Religious Studies 3752-02
CREATION AND EVOLUTION
Fall 2005 (second half)

On what grounds do people speak of "creation"? Is it a phenomenon, an experience, an explanatory principle? Is it an essentially religious idea, and if so, what exactly is the sort of validity it can have? Is it a metaphysical idea? Can it be a scientific idea?

On what grounds do people speak of "evolution"? Is it a phenomenon, an experience, an explanatory principle? Is it an essentially scientific idea, and if so, what exactly is the sort of validity it can have? Is it a metaphysical idea? Can it be a religious idea?

Under what conditions, if any, are the principles of creation and evolution compatible?

The primary purpose of this course is to analyze the ideas of creation and evolution and to gain insight into the applications of these two cosmological principles and possible relations between them. An associated purpose is to develop our philosophical skills of analysis, articulation, and critical reasoning.

Grades for the course will be based on class participation (20%), shorter writings (20%), a 5-6 page essay (30%), and a take-home exam (30%).

The required books, available in the bookstore, are:

Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. New York: Norton, 1996.
Hyers, Conrad. The Meaning of Creation. Atlanta: John Knox, 1984.
Manson, Neil, ed. God and Design. London: Routledge, 2003.

Other required readings may be in e-mails or handouts.

PROPOSED SCHEDULE

Note: On two occasions TBA I will schedule a video screening/discussion.

Oct. 25 Introduction to the class. What do we mean by "creation" and "evolution"?

Oct. 27 Ancient conceptions of creation and evolution.
READ: Handout

Nov. 1 Darwinism.
READ: Darwin, Origin of Species selections (handout)

Nov. 3 Contemporary Darwinism.
READ: Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, Chaps. 1-3

Nov. 8 Contemporary Darwinism, cont.
READ: Dawkins, Chap. 4

Nov. 10 Religious responses to Darwinism.
READ: Handout

Nov. 15 The scientific creationism debate.
READ: Hyers, Prologue and Chap. 1

Nov. 17 Hyers on creation and evolution.
READ: Hyers, Chaps. 2-3

Nov. 22 Hyers, cont.
READ: Hyers, Chap. 8

Nov. 24 THANKSGIVING VACATION

Nov. 29 The new design arguments: biological.
READ: Behe, "The Modern Intelligent Design Hypothesis," in Manson, Chap. 15

Dec. 1 Cont.
READ: Ruse, "Modern Biologists and the Argument from Design," in Manson, Chap. 17

Dec. 6 Fine tuning arguments.
READ: Collins, "Evidence for Fine Tuning," and McGrew et al., "Probabilities and the Fine-Tuning Argument," Chaps. 9-10 in Manson

Dec. 8 More on the probability issue.
READ: Sober, "The Design Argument," Chap. 1 in Manson

Final exam and any remaining coursework due December 17.

GUIDELINES FOR AN ESSAY ON A PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUE
RELATING TO CREATION AND/OR EVOLUTION

1. Definition of the problem. By the end of your introductory paragraph, the reader should know what issue you are addressing in your paper. It should be an issue that you care about and that is worth everyone's wrestling with. It could be an issue like (for example) how it is or isn't possible to conceive of God acting in the world, or what difference evolutionary theory makes to our conception of history, or how metaphysical ideas about the structure of reality relate to natural scientific knowledge.

2. Explanation of the problem. Show why the answer to the question you are posing is not obvious and straightforward. Usually this involves setting forth conflicting points of view on it, and especially the view that stands as a strong objection to the one you are going to defend. You want to show, as best you can, the plausibility of the conflicting views, and especially of the one hostile to your own.

3. Solution of the problem. Now explain the right way to think about the issue and the reasons that should decide us in favor of this way. Here you may or may not be helped by readings you have done, but in any case, you are taking responsibility here for the solution.
Remember to be reasonable. Don't preach. Don't dogmatize. Don't simply report opinions. Don't be merely facetious. This is a philosophy assignment. A good philosophical essay probes for convincing justifications.

4. Defense of the solution. Since you did such a good job of presenting an objection to your own view in step #2, now you need to handle the objection. Show the mistake in it, or show how to interpret that point in such a way that it harmonizes with your view. Possibly you were able to do this in step #3, but in most cases it will be worthwhile to write an extra paragraph or two just for this purpose.

5. Enjoy. What could be more rewarding than seeing your own thought take shape on a vitally important question? If you turn in your essay on time you will certainly have the opportunity to rewrite it, so don't be too anxious to make it perfect on your first go-round. Care about it, but don't worry about it. The best reasoning often comes out in response to questions and challenges from the reader.

GUIDELINES FOR THE CRITICAL REVIEW OPTION

Much of what is said above applies to this sort of paper too--it's an alternate way of reaching the goal of philosophical insight.

1. Choose a work that promises to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the concept of creation and/or the concept of evolution.

2. The goal of your review is to advance our understanding by improving our understanding of a specific thinker's arguments. Your review must, therefore, carefully establish what a thinker's reasoning is on a given problem, and also evaluate that reasoning.

a. In the part of the review that is devoted to making your author's own case, you have to decide what's most relevant. Don't try to explain more than you can explain sufficiently. Be sure to pay attention to the author's reasoning, not merely her or his opinions.

b. In the evaluative part of your review, do not merely agree or disagree with your author. Offer reasons of your own for thinking that the author's treatment of the given problem is right or wrong, adequate or inadequate. You can be a good philosophical partner to the author and be creative and honest at the same time.

3. CITATIONS. The purpose of citations is to enable readers to find what you are referring to or drawing on. You also want to do this as unobtrusively as possible. When a single text will be referred to many times, a good approach is to footnote your first reference like this:

1J. Johnson, "The Meaning of Creation," in B. Brown, ed., Perspectives on Creation and Evolution (New York: Smith & Sons, 2001), pp. 100-125. Page references in text are to this essay.

Thereafter you can refer to the Johnson essay like this: "As Johnson notes, however, 'Distinguishing between God's "primary" causation and the "secondary" causation of things in nature only pushes the problem back to determining the relationship between primary and secondary causation' (117)."

A SHORT SELECTION OF INTERESTING BOOKS ON CREATION AND EVOLUTION(from a vast literature)

Barbour, Ian. Religion in an Age of Science. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Very well-respected analytical overview of the issues in the science-religion relationship. A bit dry, but so useful as to be almost indispensable.

Behe, Michael J. Darwin's Black Box. New York: Free Press, 1996. One of the seminal works in Intelligent Design thinking. See also William A. Dembski, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999).

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species. New York: Modern Library, 1998. Still a wonderfully readable and rewarding book. See also his Descent of Man (New York: Collier, 1901). An extremely useful collection of texts by Darwin, his followers, and his critics is Darwin in the Norton Critical Editions, ed. Philip Appleman, 3rd ed. (New York: Norton, 2001).

Dennett, Daniel. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. An ingenious gung-ho philosophical evolutionist.

Gilkey, Langdon. Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God at Little Rock. Minneapolis: Winston, 1985. Gilkey was an expert theological witness in a trial on an Arkansas creationism law. Good read; powerful statement of a "liberal" theological position, with interesting cultural analysis to boot.

Griffin, David Ray. Religion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming the Conflicts. Albany: State U. of New York Press, 2000. Brings process metaphysics to bear on the religion-and-science questions. Rejects supernaturalism.

Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Judgement. Trans. J. C. Meredith. Oxford: Clarendon, 1952. The "Critique of Teleological Judgment" half of this book is not fun to read, but it may contain the most powerful available explanation of the relations between religious, metaphysical, and scientific kinds of understanding.

Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. One of the most erudite and influential Christian theologians writing today.

McMullin, Ernan, ed. Evolution and Creation. Notre Dame: U. of Notre Dame, 1985. One of the best anthologies.

Ruse, Michael. Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? The Relationship between Science and Religion. New York: Cambridge U. Press, 2001. Balanced analysis of issues.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Speculative cosmology by a Jesuit paleontologist; one of the most influential syntheses of faith and science.

SOME COURSE RULES

1. Class Attendance. Being in class, being engaged with the work of the class, and behaving courteously are all expected. One discourtesy to avoid is coming into class late. Better late than never, definitely; but lateness counts as half an absence.
One percent of the course grade will be lost for each absence from class for any reason, beginning with the second absence. (For example, someone who missed class 6 times would thereby lose 5% of the course grade, or half a letter grade.) The reason for this: our in-class inquiry is a crucial and irreplaceable part of the substance of the course.

2. Late papers. Written assignments turned in late will lose a letter grade or equivalent. Homework may not be turned in more than one week after its due date. No work of any kind will be accepted after the last day of final examinations. Exceptions to this policy will only be granted to the victims of unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances.

3. Plagiarism. Using the words or ideas of others without acknowledgement--that is, passing them off as your own--is a fraudulent practice called plagiarism. Plagiarized work will receive no credit and will be referred to the college Honor Council.

4. Incompletes. An "Incomplete" grade for the course will only be given to students who, due to unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, find themselves unable to complete course requirements during the term and can reasonably be expected to complete them within a few weeks after the term's end. The "Incomplete" must be requested and appropriately justified before the end of final examinations.

5. Disabilities. Students with documented disabilities should discuss their needs with the instructor at the beginning of the semester.