Philosophy of the Sciences, 1997 Evolutionary Theory and Creationism

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Topics for Tutorials

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Remember: your group should get together in advance of each tutorial, choose two topics, with one person as presenter for each topic, and one to respond.  The contributions should also be available in some written or electronic form. 

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• Can Creationism be regarded as a scientific alternative to evolutionary theory?

 
Reading:
 
M. Ruse, `Creation Science: The Ultimate Fraud' in Ruse (ed.), Philosophy of Biology (New York, Macmillan, 1989), pp.329-336.
 
P. Kitcher, Abusing Science (Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1982), Chap.5. The whole of Kitcher's book should be read by anybody who wants to get deeply involved in this issue. Several chapters are in the xerox collection. Those who already know the basics of evolutionary biology will not need to read Chap. 1.
 
• Richard Dawkins' book River Out Of Eden has, as its subtitle, A Darwinian View of Life.  What is a Darwinian view of life ?  Is it acceptable ?

 
Reading
 
Richard Dawkins, River Out Of Eden (1995), Chap.4
 
David Stove, `So You Think You Are a Darwinian?', Philosophy 69 (1994), pp.267-277.
 
Michael L. McKinney, Evolution of Life (1993), pp.21-86.

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