Darwin and Religion Teaching Resources
Part of Darwin's “Diagram of Divergence of Taxa”, the only diagram in On The Origin of Species. For the full diagram see here.
Overview
This is a collection of multimedia resources on the history and philosophy of the interaction between science and religion, with a particular focus on Darwin. They are primarily designed to be a resource for a class on these topics, for example the one I teach with the evolutionary biologist H. Allen Orr (see syllabus from 2010, 2012, 2013). Please contact me with suggestions or broken links.
Introductions
- Oliver Lewis interviews Peter Harrison for Interviews with Oxonians, 22 October 2008. [MP3]
History of Science and Religion
The Conflict Thesis
- John Hedley Brooke, "Science vs Religion? The Roots of the Conflict Thesis", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 28 July 2007.
Middle Ages
- James Hannam, "Science and the Church in the Middle Ages", Royal Society, 18 March 2011. [MP3] [M4V]
Galileo
- David Lindberg, "The Florentine Heretic? Galileo, the Church, and the Cosmos", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 24 July 2006.
- Ernan McMullin, "Was Galileo Guilty?", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 28 July 2007.
Newton
- Iliffe, Robert. "Newton, Science and Religion", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 20 October 2009.
- Iliffe, Robert. "Sir Isaac Newton, Science, and Unorthodox Theology", Royal Society, 17 October 2008. [MP3]
History of Biology
Joseph Hooker
- Jim Endersby, "Smashing species: Joseph Hooker and Victorian science", Royal Society, 9 October 2010. [MP3]
Natural Theology
- Lawrence Principe, "Natural Theology: A Historical Perspective", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 14 July 2009.
- Jonathan Topham, "Biology in the service of Natural Theology", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 9 February 2010.
Darwin
- Elliot Sober, "What is Darwin's Theory?", presented at In the Light of Evolution III: Two Centuries of Darwin, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, 15-17 January 2009. The paper on which this talk is based is Elliott Sober, "Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards?", in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, Supplement 1, June 2009, pp. 10048--10055. [URI]
- John van Wyhe, "Darwin's Secret? Was the theory of evolution really held back for twenty years?", The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 9 April 2009. [MP4]
- Paul White, "Darwin's Emotions", The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 3 February 2009. [MP4]
- Robert J. Richards, "Darwin's Place in the History of Thought: A Reevaluation", presented at In the Light of Evolution III: Two Centuries of Darwin, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, 15-17 January 2009. The paper on which this talk is based is Robert J. Richards, "Darwin's Place in the History of Thought: A Reevaluation", in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, Supplement 1, June 2009, pp. 10056--10060. [URI]
- Peter Bowler, "Imagining a World Without Darwin", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
- Robert J. Richards, "'All that is most beautiful': Darwin's Theory of Morality and Its Normative Validity", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
- Paul White. "Whose Darwin is the true Darwin?", Royal Society, 30 March 2007. [MP3]
America
- Numbers, Ronald. "Why is Creationism so popular in the USA?", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 15 September 2007.
- Joe Cain, "A Monkey's Uncle: The 1925 Scopes Trial Wasn't What You Think!", The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 21 April 2009. [MP4]
- Kenneth Miller, "Darwin, God, & Design---Evolution & the Battle for America's Soul", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009. The book on which this talk draws is Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, Penguin, New York, 2008.
Contemporary Evolutionary Theory
The Present and Future State of Evolutionary Theory
- Simon Conway Morris, "Nine Evolutionary Myths: The Closing of the Darwinian Mind", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
- Jean Gayon, "What Future for Darwinism?", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
The Evolution of Complexity
- Michael Lynch, "Evolution by Non-Adaptive Mechanisms", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
- Alessandro Minelli, "The Evolvability of Organic Forms: Possible, Likely, and Unlikely Change From the Perspective of Evolutionary Developmental Biology" ", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
- Sandra D. Mitchell, "Evolution and the Mechanisms of Complexity", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009.
Evolutionary Contingency
- Simon Conway Morris, "Darwin's Compass: Why the Evolution of Humans is Inevitable", Southern Methodist University, 29 January 2010.
- John Beatty, "The Details Left to Chance: Evolutionary Contingency and its Broader Implications in the Work of Charles Darwin and Stephen Jay Gould", The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 12 March 2009. [MP4]
Philosophy of Biology
Design Arguments
- Elliot Sober, "Darwinism and Intelligent Design", Southern Methodist University, 13 April 2009. [PART 1] [PART 2]
Evolutionary Explanations of Belief
- Paul Griffiths and John Wilkins, "Are Evolutionary Explanations of Religion Debunking Explanations?", presented at Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, Notre Dame, 1-3 November 2009. This talk is based on the following two papers:
- Griffiths, Paul E, and John S. Wilkins. "When do evolutionary explanations of belief debunk belief?", in Phillip R. Sloan (Ed), Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God, Notre Dame University Press, Notre Dame, forthcoming.
- Wilkins, John S., and Paul E. Griffiths. "Evolutionary debunking arguments in three domains: Fact, value, and religion", in James Maclaurin and Gregory W. Dawes (Eds), A New Science of Religion, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, forthcoming.
- Jeffrey Schloss, "Evolutionary Theories of Religious Belief", Western Washington University, 21 February 2012.
- Justin Barrett, "The Evolution of Religious Brains", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 3 July 2009.
- Justin Barrett, "The Nature of Childhood Theism", The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, 4 July 2009.
- Justin Barrett on the Naturalness of Religious Belief, Research on Religion Podcast, Baylor University, 17 October 2011. [MP3]
- Interview with Michael Murray and Jeffrey Schloss, Philosophy News, 7 April 2012. [MP3]
Ethics and Evolution
- Interview with Philip Kitcher, Think Atheist Radio Show, Episode 38, 11 December 2011. [MP3]
Evolution and the Problem of Evil
- Michael Murray, "Evolution and the Problem of Evil", Western Washington University, 23 February 2012.
Evolution and Naturalism
- Alvin Plantinga, "God and Evolution: Where the Conflict Really Lies", Western Washington University, 10 May 2010.
- Alvin Plantinga, "Does Science Show That Miracles Can't Happen?", Western Washington University, 12 May 2010.