Spring 2026

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.

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 (Tuesday 20 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 (Thursday 22 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 unpublished.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 I (Tuesday 27 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 unpublished.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: Problems for The Propensity Interpretation II (Thursday 29 January)

Meeting 5: What Can Selection Explain? (Tuesday 3 February)

• 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 6: Review (Thursday 5 February)

Section II: Individuals, Collectives, Levels and Transitions

Meeting 7: Individuals, Reproduction and Collectives (Tuesday 10 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 8: Altruism and Group Selection: Theory (Thursday 12 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.

Spring Festival Holiday

Meeting 9: Altruism and Group Selection: Examples (Tuesday 24 February)

• Sober and Wilson (1998, pp. 35–54).

Meeting 10: Two Kinds of Group Selection (Thursday 26 February)

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

Meeting 11: Darwinian Populations and Levels of Selection (Tuesday 3 March)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §§6.1–6.2).

Meeting 12: Visit from Laura Tripaldi (Thursday 5 March)

• Tripaldi, Laura. 2022. Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials, Urbanomic, Falmouth, Chapter 4, Living Monsters, pp. 103–140.

Meeting 13: Major Evolutionary Transitions (Tuesday 10 March)

• Godfrey-Smith (2009, §6.3).

Meeting 14: Review (Thursday 12 March)

Meeting 15: (Tuesday 17 March)

Meeting 16: (Thursday 19 March)

Meeting 17: (Tuesday 24 March)

Meeting 18: (Thursday 26 March)

Meeting 19: (Tuesday 31 March)

Meeting 20: (Thursday 2 April)

Qingming Festival Holiday

Meeting 22: (Thursday 16 April)

Meeting 23: (Tuesday 21 April)

Meeting 24: (Thursday 23 April)

Meeting 25: (Tuesday 28 April)

Meeting 26: (Thursday 30 April)

Meeting 27: (Tuesday 5 May)

Meeting 28: (Thursday 7 May)

Updated: 28 January 2026