THE SCHOOL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

WESTERN COLLEGE PROGRAM, MIAMI UNIVERSITY

 

WCP 222                                Natural Systems II                           Spring 2002

 

The Nature of Human Nature

 

Instructors:    Chris Myers                                      Joseph Dorsey

                        202 Boyd, ext. 9-5664                       106 PBD, ext. 9-1276

 

 

 

DESCRIPTION:

     Where do friendship, romance, racism, sibling rivalry come from?  What are the evolutionary implications of sex and gender?  What lies at the foundation of our ethics?  Darwin helped begin a controversy that thrives to this day on the nature of who we are.  The controversy was inflamed in 1975 with the publication of E. O. WilsonÕs Sociobiology, a conceptual marriage of evolution and human behavior.  Politically loaded and regarded as anathema to many, the word sociobiology has been stricken from journals and professional usage. 

 

 ÒPeople sometimes ask: What ever happened to sociobiology? The answer is that it went underground, where it has been eating away at the foundations of academic orthodoxy.Ó

                                                -- Robert Wright, The Moral Animal

 

In this course we will critically explore the cherished perceptions we hold of ourselves and the debated research that has sought to lend new insights into the fundamental basis of human behavior.  This will include modern interpretations of such issues as criminal behavior, honor, sacrifice, parental manipulation, and intelligence.

We will further examine new uses of evolutionary theory to address our place in nature.  This course will combine careful readings of primary and secondary literature in evolutionary biology, ecology, and psychology, with empirical investigations (including fieldwork) of the central tenants of the class. 

 

COURSE GOALS:  This course is designed to provide

á      Tools necessary to assess claims of ÒnaturalÓ human behavior;

á      A fundamental knowledge of evolutionary theory; its applications and limitations;

á      An interdisciplinary and biographic perspective on an influential paradigm;

á      A detailed introduction to the study of human/nature relationships.

 

Interdisciplinarity:  We will mainly draw on subdisciplines in biology (evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology), psychology, anthropology, and sociology.  We will be following the tracks of a controversial paradigm (sociobiology), to examine how its central tenants are denied, incorporated, and transformed in other disciplines.

 

Writing and Quantitative Reasoning: Writing assignments will include professional writing within a discipline, creative writing, essay, and autobiography.  Quantitative components include basic statistics; collecting, presenting, and interpreting data; simple mathematical models in quantitative genetics.

 

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING: Students will be expected to express their ideas creatively on a regular basis.  The assignments will take a variety of forms:

            Participation  in course discussions and writings                        20%

Midterm                                                                                            20%

            Poster Presentations                                                                        20%

            Environ. Ethics Autobiography                                                     10%

            Field Study/Final Exam (on poster topic)                                    30%

 

Attendance is essential for serious class discussion and learning.  Three percent of the final grade will be subtracted for each unexcused absence.  All students should submit  end-of-the-semester course evaluations.  WCP students must complete their Statement of Educational Objectives in order to receive a grade for second-year Western courses. 

           

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: All students should carefully read Part V, Sections 501-507 of The Miami Student Handbook which deals with academic misconduct.  If you have any questions about this material, please ask your instructor for interpretation.

 

 

REQUIRED READINGS:

            Course Reader.  Available at the Oxford Copy Shop.

            Jane Goodall  1990.  Through a Window.  Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 268pp.

Robert Wright. 1994. The Moral Animal.  Vintage Books, New York, 466pp.

CLASS SCHEDULE

 

PART I: WHY WE BEHAVE THE WAY WE DO

 

**Note: Complete each reading for the Monday session of class each week.

Week 1 (1/17-1/11)  THE DEBATE

            Read : Wright, Introduction & Chapter 1

**sign up for poster topic

 

Week 2 (1/14-1/18)   THE DEBATE II

            Read:  Wright,  Chapters 2 & 3; Goodall Chapter 2

 

Week 3 (1/21-1/25)  FINDING THE PERFECT MATE(S)

MLK dayÑno class on Monday

            Read:  Wright,  Chapter 4; Goodall Chapter 9

 

Week 4 (1/28-2/1)  FINDING THE PERFECT MATE(S) II

            Read: Erlich, Bloods a Rover (Reader); Egg Auction (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics:  mate choice, homosexuality, rape, beauty

**Idea for Human/Nature Field Project due (one paragraph)

 

Week 5 (2/4-2/8)       UNDERSTANDING FAMILIES AND FRIENDS

            Read:  Wright,  Chapters 7 & 8, Goodall Chapter 4 & 11

            Possible Poster Topics:  sibling rivalry, kin selection, parental manipulation

 

Week 6 (2/11-2/15) UNDERSTANDING FAMILIES AND FRIENDS II

            Read:  Wright,  Chapters 9 & 10, Goodall Chapter 17

            Possible Poster Topics:  friendship, loyalty, jealousy, reciprocal altruism

 

Week 7 (2/18-2/22) YOUR SOCIAL STATUS

            *Monday/Tuesday switch week.  Monday classes meet Tuesday this week.

            Read:  Wright,  Chapters 11 & 12; Goodall Chapter 10

            Possible Poster Topics: hierarchy, dominance & submission, guilt

**Complete Proposal for Human/Nature Field Project due (about 5 pp)

 

Week 8 (2/25-3/1)   YOUR SOCIAL STATUS II

            Read:  Wright,  Chapters 13 & 14

            Possible Poster Topics:  deception & self-deception, aggression &

            criminal behavior

 

PART II:  THE PEEMINANCE OF CULTURE

 

Week 9 (3/4-3/8)     MEASURING HEADS

            Read:  Gould, Chapters 3  (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics: Human variation, mismeasurment by race/class/gender

**Midterm

 

 

SPRING BREAK WEEK (3/11-3/15)

 

Week 10 (3/18-3/22)  Transformation and Transcendence

            READ: Chidester Chapters 1, 6 & 8. Patterns of Action (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics: Ritual (including sacrifice), Faith, Initiations

**Environ. Ethics Autobiography assigned

 

PART III:  Environmental Ethics & ValueS

 

Week 11 (3/25-3/29)  ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS & Values I

            Read:  Hargrove, Chapters 1 & 3 Foundation of Environ. Ethics (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics: land ethic; deep ecology; Cartesianism

 

Week 12 (4/1-4/5)   ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS & Values II

            Read:  Rolston; Midgley; Cantril; Hebb; Coombs (all in Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics: Assessing value; materialism

**Environ. Ethics Autobiography due and discussed in class

 

Week 13 (4/8-4/12)     ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS & Values III

            Read:  Edney; Pastalan (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics: Territoriality & privacy

 

Week 14 (4/15-4/19)  Biophilia & Human Values

            Read:  Kellert, Chapter 5; Katcher, Chapter 7 (Reader)

            Possible Poster Topics:  Biophilia; children & nature

**All data analysis completed this week

 

Week 15 (4/22-4/26)   FINAL REFLECTIONS

            Read:   de Waal (Reader); Goodall Chapter 18

 

Week 16

Final Exams--Take Home.  Final Human/Nature Field Project due, with project assessment.