[Charles Darwin]

Darwin

 

Calendar for this Unit

 


Lecture Resources for the Darwin Unit

Texts

Biography/History

Voyage of Beagle

Evolution

Creationism/Religion

Social Darwinism

Evolution after Darwin


TEXTS
The Voyage of the Beagle

The Origin of Species
Hypertexts of the Darwin Classics.

 

Illustrated guide to the Origin, along with text
BBC site

 

Selections from the Voyage of the Beagle with Commentary
by D. Likely, University of New Brunswick

 

The Writings of Charles Darwin

British Library site. Very Comprehensive.

 


Biography and History

 

Charles Darwin and his Writings
From the C. Warren Irvin Collection at U. of South Carolina.

 

Charles Darwin Homepage
Links and a short biography.

 

Charles Darwin: An Overview
Victorian Web Site. Excellent on the Victorian Cultural Context.

 

Charles Darwin, an Introduction
John Wahlert, CUNY.  Detailed Biography with images
Photo Expedition to Darwin’s England from same site.

 

The Age of Darwin
Comprehensive collection of Resources from the PBS Evolution Library

 

Darwin’s Diary
Web activity exploring Darwin’s Diary. From PBS site.

 

Darwin and Victorian Culture
interview with
Darwin's biographer, James Moore. From PBS Evolution Site.   (length = 8 mins, 5 secs)

An account of the Huxley-Wilberforce Debate

University of Texas at Austin site.

 


Voyage of the Beagle

 

The Voyage of the Beagle
From the C. Warren Irvin Collection. Excellent accounts with images of places and objects involved.

 

Selections from the text with Commentary
by D. Likely, University of New Brunswick

 

Virtual Galapagos
TerraQuest site.

 

Charles Darwin and the Galapagos

Melissa Binde

NSTA Galapagos Education Site

 

Galapagos.org

Darwin Foundation

 

 


Evolution

 

Evolution: The PBS Series

An extensive collection of resources. A must see!
Evolution Library and Student Video Page are just two of the highlights.

The Video page has videos on the Evidence for Evolution and on How Evolution Really Works

Evolution of the Eye
PBS video. (4 min) How the eye evolved, one of the classical problems posed against Darwin.

Evolution of a Species
PBS. Web activity showing an example of evolution in birds.

A nice overview of Darwin's Finches
Part of  lecture on adaptive radiation by Martyn L Gorman, University of Aberdeen

Evolution Online
BBC site. Extensive resources. Features special illustrated version of the Origin

 

The Darwinian Homepage
Links to Charles Darwin and Evolution Related Pages.

 

talk.origins Evolution Archive
A collection of introductory material on evolution. A very good place to start, and has introductions to advanced topics and summaries of the evidence for evolution as well, Especially the FAQ page

 

Early Theories of Evolution
Dennis O’Neil, Palomar College. Nice section on Darwin and Darwinism.

 

 

Evolution Exhibit entrance
A very nice exhibit on evolution and Darwin from Berkeley Museum of Paleontology.

 

Fossil Hominids
A summary of some of the evidence for human evolution.

 

EvoWiki

Online Encyclopedia of Evolution

 

KLI Theory Lab

Excellent Bibliographical Database, strong on Evolutionary theory in Human Sciences

 

Software:

Darwin’s Pond and Gene Pool
Two evolution simulations by Jeffrey Ventrella. Free and Way cool! Start with Darwin’s Pond.

 

Biotopia
Artificial life simulation from BBC site.

The gene machine

By Bill Kendrick, determines some simple facts about your genes. Medelian genetics.

 

Richard Dawkins created software called The Blind Watchmaker in the book of the same name to demonstrate the basic principles of evolution by evolving simple graphical organisms. Below are some web applications based on his program. Here is a more complete list

Blind Watchmaker Web application
based on Dawkins's software from book of same name

Biomorph Breeder
Anna Nardella
Biomorph Viewer
Nicolas Rennard

 


Social Darwinism

 

Social Darwinism
Thinkquest site. (Hit visit site on Intro. Page) Introduction and definitions.

 

Social Darwinism

Encarta Article

 

Joseph Spoerl, “Social Darwinism”

Lecture from our Darwin Unit.

 

Selection from Spenser on Social Darwinism

Modern History Sourcebook text. From “Progress: Its Law and Causes”

 

A Guide to Spenser’s Social Darwinism
by Alvin Wee, from Victorian Web

 


Creationism and Science and Religion

 

 

Evolution vs. Creationism

Syracuse University site. Comprehensive resources on both sides.

 

Statements from the National Academy of Science
Information on Kansas and Georgia cases, as well as general resources.

 

Creationism.org
A representative Creationist site. Edited by Paul Abramson.

 

National Center for Science Education

Excellent Resources on Creationism. Current news.

 

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Jon Rennie of Scientific American provides answers to 15 common Creationist arguments. Despite the inflammatory title, a good introductrion to the problem. (PDF file)

 

Evolution as Fact and Theory

Stephen Jay Gould

 

"Bright!!" Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett

From Edge Third Culture site.  Atheistic manifestos of a sort by two leading Darwinists.

 

Richard Dawkins, “Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder”

From Edge Third Culture site. 

Faith and Religion
Newman Center at CalTech: Excellent resources; has most of the texts of recent Papal pronouncements on Science

Pope John Paul II, Message to Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Pope’s Statement on Science and Religion


Science and Technology in the Catholic Catechism

 

 

 


Evolution after Darwin

 

Evolution Since Darwin

Comprehensive collection of Resources from the PBS Evolution Library

Ernst Mayr and the Evolutionary synthesis

 

Talk.origins account of Modern Synthesis

 

 

Daniel Dennett, “In Darwin’s Wake, Where am I?”
2000 Presidential Address to American Philosophical Association by author of Darwin’s Dangerous Idea
How has Darwin’s theory of natural selection transformed our view of humanity’s place in the universe?
Very short essay by same author.

 

The World of Richard Dawkins
Unofficial website of leading contemporary neo-Darwinist
also has a useful section of Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould, “Patterns in Life’s History

From Edge Third Culture site.  Gould’s account of basic ideas of Darwinism with comments by Dawkins, Dennett, Mayr and other leading neo-Darwinists.

 

Stephen Pinker Interview:  A Biological Understanding of Human Nature

From Edge Third Culture site.  Includes Video (11 min.) by leading proponent of Darwinian understanding of Language

 

John Dewey, “The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy”
Classic text by the American Philosopher

 

 

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