Spring 2024

Part of Darwin's “Diagram of Divergence of Taxa”, the only diagram in On The Origin of Species. The diagram depicts “hypothetical phylogenetic relationships, showing how lineages diverge from common ancestors and give rise to both extinct and extant species. Time intervals (between Roman numerals) represent thousands of generations. [...] Distance along the horizontal axis represents degree of divergence (as, for example, in body form). Darwin recognized that rates of evolution vary greatly, showing this by different angles in the diagram” (Futuyma, 2009, p. 21). Note too that the diagram displays Darwin's recognition that it is the most divergent species that are most likely to survive. For the full diagram see here.

Details

Instructor

Overview

This class is an introduction to philosophy of biology with a focus on causation and explanation in evolutionary theory and behavioural genetics. No prior philosophy of science or biology will be assumed.

Assessment

The final grade will be determined approximately as follows:

Assessment dates:

Policies

Lateness and Attendance

Students are required to attend all classes on time. Lateness will count against your attendance and participation grade. Students missing 4 classes will receive an attendance and participation grade of F. Students missing 6 classes will receive a final grade of F.

Integrity

It is a condition on passing this course that students read and adhere to the NYU Shanghai policy on academic integrity as described in the current NYU Shanghai Academic Bulletin.

Course Materials

All notes, readings and assignments can be found on the course Brightspace site here.

Selected books are available on reserve in the library.

Schedule

Meeting 1: Introductory Discussion (Monday 22 January)

• Godfrey-Smith, Peter. 2009. Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection, Oxford University Press, Oxford, §1.

Section I: Natural Selection

Meeting 2: The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness (Wednesday 24 January)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §2.1).
• Mills, Susan K. and Beatty, John H. 1979. “The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness”, in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 46, No. 2, June, pp. 263–286.
• Sober, Elliott. unpublished. “Two Fitness Fallacies”., §1.

Meeting 3: Problems for The Propensity Interpretation (Monday 29 January)

• Sober, Elliott. 2000. “The Two Faces of Fitness”, in Singh, Krimbas, Paul and Beatty (Ed), Thinking about Evolution: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 309–321.
• Sober, Elliott. unpublished. “Two Fitness Fallacies”., §2.
• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§2.2–2.3).

Meeting 4: What Can Selection Explain? (Wednesday 31 January)

• Forber, Patrick. 2005. “On the Explanatory Roles of Natural Selection”, in Biology and Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 2, March, pp. 329–342.
• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§3.1–3.3).

Meeting 5: Selection and Drift as Forces (Monday 5 February)

• Sober, Elliott. 1984. The Nature of Selection: Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, Chapter 1.

Meeting 6: Selection and Drift as Trends (Wednesday 7 February)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§3.4–3.6).

Meeting 7: Review I (Monday 19 February)

Meeting 8: Review II (Wednesday 21 February)

Section II: Individuals, Collectives, Levels and Transitions

Meeting 9: Individuals, Reproduction and Collectives (Monday 26 February)

• Janzen, Daniel H. 1977. “What Are Dandelions and Aphids?”, in The American Naturalist, Vol. 111, No. 979, May, pp. 586–589.
• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§4–5).

Meeting 10: Altruism and Group Selection: Theory (Wednesday 28 February)

• Sober, Elliott and Wilson, David Sloan. 1998. Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 17–35.

Meeting 11: Altruism and Group Selection: Examples (Monday 4 March)

• Sober and Wilson (1998, pp. 35–54).

Meeting 12: Two Kinds of Group Selection (Wednesday 6 March)

• Okasha, Samir. 2006. Evolution and the Levels of Selection, Oxford University Press, Oxford, §§2.1–2.2.

Meeting 13: Darwinian Populations and Levels of Selection (Monday 11 March)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§6.1–6.2).

Meeting 14: Major Evolutionary Transitions (Wednesday 13 March)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §6.3).

Meeting 15: Review (Monday 18 March)

Section III: Genetic Causation

Meeting 16: Genome-Wide Association Studies (Wednesday 20 March)

• Harden, Kathryn Paige. 2021. The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, Princeton University Press, Princeton, Chapter 3, pp. 45–71.

Meeting 17: Genetic Causation (Monday 25 March)

• Harden (2021, Chapter 5, pp. 96–109).

Meeting 18: Heritability: Concepts (Wednesday 27 March)

• Sober, Elliott. 2001. “Separating Nature and Nurture”, in Wasserman and Wachbroit (Ed), Genetics and Criminal Behavior, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 47–78, pp. 47–61.

Meeting 19: Heritability: Twin Studies (Monday 8 April)

• Sober, Elliott. 2001. “Separating Nature and Nurture”, in Wasserman and Wachbroit (Ed), Genetics and Criminal Behavior, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 47–78, pp. 62–78.

Meeting 20: Heritability: Group Differences (Wednesday 10 April)

• Block, Ned. 1995. “How Heritability Misleads About Race”, in Cognition, Vol. 56, No. 2, August, pp. 99–128.

Meeting 21: GWAS, Heritability and Causal Inference (Monday 15 April)

• Harden (2021, Chapter 6, pp. 110–129).

Meeting 22: Causal Pathways I (Wednesday 17 April)

• Harden (2021, Chapter 7, pp. 130–150).

Meeting 23: Causal Pathways II (Sunday 21 April)

• Kaplan, Jonathan Michael and Turkheimer, Eric. 2021. “Galton’s Quincunx: Probabilistic Causation in Developmental Behavior Genetics”, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 88, August, pp. 60–69. URI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.04.001.

Meeting 24: Causal Confounding I (Monday 22 April)

• Coop, Graham and Przeworski, Molly. 2022. “Lottery, Luck, or Legacy”, in Evolution, Vol. 76, No. 4, April, pp. 846–853. URI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14449.

Meeting 25: Causal Confounding II (Wednesday 24 April)

• Harden, Kathryn Paige. 2022. “On Genetics and Justice: A Reply to Coop and Przeworski (2022)”, in Evolution, Vol. 76, No. 10, October, pp. 2469–2474. URI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14589.
• Coop, Graham and Przeworski, Molly. 2022. “Luck, Lottery, or Legacy? The Problem of Confounding: A Reply to Harden”, in Evolution, Vol. 76, No. 10, October, pp. 2464–2468. URI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14588.

Optional

• Gusev, Alexander. 2023. “A Molecular Genetics Perspective on the Heritability of Human Behavior and Group Differences”. URI: http://gusevlab.org/projects/hsq/, §5: The Heritability of Educational Attainment.

Meeting 26: Recap (Monday 29 April)

Updated: 7 April 2024