The Nature of Human Nature, Spring 2000

Jeremy touches a sea turtle at the wall break, 25 m deep, San Salvador, Bahamas.

WCP 222 Natural Systems II Spring 2000

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Where do friendship, romance, racism, sibling rivalry come from? What are the evolutionary implications of sex and gender? Where do our ethics come from? 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. Wilson's 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.

INSTRUCTORS:

In this course we will critically explore the cherished perceptions we hold of ourselves and the research that has sought to lend new insights into the fundamental basis of human behavior. This will include 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, using a comparative approach that combines careful readings of primary and secondary literature in evolutionary biology, ecology, philosophy, psychology, and religion, with empirical investigations (including fieldwork) of the central tenants of the course.

COURSE GOALS:

• To develop tools necessary to assess claims of "natural" human behavior
• A fundamental knowledge of evolutionary theory and its applications
• A better understanding of core principles in quantitative genetics
• 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, philosophy, and sociology. We will be following the tracks of a recent, 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.

REQUIRED READINGS:

Course Reader (pick up from the Oxford Copy Shop)
Jane Goodall 1990. Through a Window. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 268pp.
Leslie Stevenson and David Haberman. 1998. Ten Theories of Human Nature. Oxford Univ. Press. 239pp.
Robert Wright. 1994. The Moral Animal. Vintage Books, New York, 466pp.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING:

Miami has 100s of acres of beautiful Natural Areas which lend themselves to experiencing nature!

(Quicktime movie~4 mb).On the same walk, a garter snake makes her presence known!

ATTENDANCE POLICY: 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.

HUMAN NATURE POSTER PRESENTATION GUIDELINES: Poster sessions are effeictive for communicating research and are commonly employed in academic meetings of all disciplines. Each team (typically two people) should plan to lead class on the day of the poster session: 15 minutes presenting the poster; 15 minutes leading a discussion on the topic of the poster; 30 minutes on leading a more general discussion of the week's readings, or conducting an activity based upon the readings, or gathering data for your Human Nature Field Project. Poster board can be picked up at the Peer Science Center.

Poster and discussion sessions will be each Tuesday beginning week 4.

Your poster should:

• Be provocative
• Have a point--be focused
• Synthesize research on your topic, not simply present findings of others
• Summarize your topic adequately, include text, statistics, and graphics
• Be based on primary as well as secondary sources
• Have a well rounded bibliography
• Be visually appealing and creative
• May include empirical results from your own investigations (e.g. literature surveys or field research)

Poster topics should be directly linked to your Human Nature Field Project. The Field Project requirements are shown below:

CLASS SCHEDULE:

PART I: EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS

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

Week 1 (1/11-1/13) THE DEBATE
Read : Wright, Introduction & Chapter 1
**sign up for poster topic

Week 2 (1/18-1/20) THE DEBATE II
Read: Wright, Chapters 2 & 3; Goodall Chapter 2

Week 3 (1/25-1/27) FINDING THE PERFECT MATE(S)
Read: Wright, Chapters 4 & 5; Goodall Chapter 9

Week 4 (2/1-2/3) FINDING THE PERFECT MATE(S) II
Read: Miller (egg auction) (Reader); Wright, Chapter 6
Possible Poster Topics: mate choice, homosexuality, rape, beauty
**Idea for Human/Nature Field Project due (one paragraph-- post to web )

Week 5 (2/8-2/10) UNDERSTANDING FAMILIES AND FRIENDS
Read: Wright, Chapters 7 & 8, Goodall Chapter 4 & 11 "The Classification of Life"

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

Week 6 (2/15-2/17) UNDERSTANDING FAMILIES AND FRIENDS II
Read: Wright, Chapters 9 & 10, Goodall Chapter 17 "Chordate Evolution"
Possible Poster Topics: friendship, loyalty, jealousy, reciprocal altruism

Week 7 (2/22-2/24) (M/T switch day, Poster on Thursday) YOUR SOCIAL STATUS
Read: Wright, Chapters 11 & 12; Goodall Chapter 10
Jane Goodall "Learning from Chimpanzees: A Message Humans Can Understand"
Possible Poster Topics: hierarchy, dominance & submission, guilt
** Complete Proposal for Human/Nature Field Project Due (about 5 pp)

Week 8 (2/29-3/2) YOUR SOCIAL STATUS II
Read: Wright, Chapters 13 & 14
Possible Poster Topics: deception & self-deception, aggression &
criminal behavior

Week 9 (3/7-3/9) EVOLUTIONARY ETHICS
Read: Wright, Chapters 15-18
Possible Poster Topics: Good & Evil, morality, honor, sacrifice
** Online Progress Report for Human/Nature Field Project due

**Midterm

SPRING BREAK WEEK (3/12-3/19)

PART II: THE PREEMINENCE OF CULTURE

Week 10 (3/21-3/23) MEASURING HEADS
Read: Measuring Heads; Sociology & Biological Reductionism (Reader)
Possible Poster Topics: Human variation, mismeasurment by race/class/gender, Cultural Materialism

Week 11 (3/28-3/30) RELIGION
Read: Stevenson & Haberman, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
Possible Poster Topics: Any topic from readings for this week
** Online Progress Report for Human/Nature Field Project due

Week 12 (4/4-4/6) PHILOSOPHY
Read:Stevenson & Haberman, Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Possible Poster Topics: Any topic from readings for this week
** Nature Autobiography (Go Here for an Example) due and discussed in class

PART III: FROM UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES
TO UNDERSTANDING NATURE

Primate to Primate: From the Cloud Forests of Monteverde (Quicktime movie)

Week 13 (4/11-4/13) THE BIOPHILIA HYPOTHESIS
Read: Biophilia & the Cons. Ethic; New Guineans & Their Natural World; The Truth About Dogs; The Same River; Talk is Cheap (Reader)
Possible Poster Topics: Any topic from readings for this week
** Online Progress Report for Human/Nature Field Project due

Week 14 (4/18-4/20) THE VALUE OF LIFE
Read: Values; Human Values Towards Large Mammals; The Face of a Spider (Reader)
Possible Poster Topics: Any topic from readings for this week
Visit Senior Project Presentations

Week 15 (4/25-4/27) FINAL REFLECTIONS
Read: Biophilia--Unanswered Questions (Reader); Stevenson & Haberman, Chapter 12; Goodall Chapter, 18

Week 16 --Final Exams--Take Home. Final Human/Nature Field Project due in hard copy and posted to the web , with project assessment.

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