Spring, 2007
DuSable 466
Tuesdays, 6:30-9:10 p.m.
Larry Arnhart
Office: Zulauf 404
Office hours: W-F, 12:30-2:00, other times by appointment
Telephone: 815-753-7049
E-mail: larnhart@niu.edu
TEXTS
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 2nd edition (Penguin Books, 2004)
Frans de Waal, Chimpanzee Politics, revised edition (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
Allan Mazur, Biosociology of Dominance and Deference (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)
Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate (Viking Penguin, 2002)
Peter Richerson & Robert Boyd, Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution (
Larry Arnhart, Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature (SUNY Press, 1998)
Larry Arnhart, Darwinian Conservatism (Imprint Academic, 2005)
John West, Darwin’s Conservatives: The Misguided Quest (Discovery Institute, 2006)
GRADING
The final grade will be based on the grades for the journal writing (25% for journal entries #1-7 and journal responses #1-6, 25% for journal entries #8-14 and journal responses #7-13), class participation (15% for the first half of the semester and 15% for the second half), and a final paper (20%). Grades for the first half of the semester will be handed out in class on March 20.
For the journal writing, you will be put into a journal group with two other students. You should bring to class three copies of your journal entries and journal responses—one for the professor and two for the other two members of your group. You will join a new journal group at the middle of the semester.
The journal entry should be at least two double-spaced pages on the reading for the week. The point of the journal entry is for you to set down your thoughts about anything in the reading. This will be your attempt to struggle with any issue that comes up in the reading. Usually it is best to take up one issue that you can develop a little in two pages.
You will write journal responses for each of the two journal entries you have received. Each journal response should be at least one double-spaced page. The point of the journal response is for you to respond in some fruitful way to the thoughts of your journal group members.
The final paper should be at least ten double-spaced pages. The point of the final paper is for you to elaborate your thinking about some topic related to the readings and discussions in the course. You might build upon something that has come up in your journal writing. The final paper will be due no later than 12 noon, May 7 in the professor’s office. (You may slip the paper under the office door.)
SCHEDULE OF
Jan 16: Introduction
Jan 23:
Jour #1
Jan 30:
Jour #2, Resp #1
Feb 6: De Waal, xi-135
Jour #3, Resp #2
Feb 13: De Waal, 136-215
Jour #4, Resp #3
Feb 20: Mazur, 1-130
Jour #5, Resp #4
Feb 27: Mazur, 131-167
Jour #6, Resp #5
Mar 6: Pinker, vii-58, 103-135
Jour #7, Resp #6
SPRING BREAK
Mar 20: Pinker, 137-194, 269-305, 337-371
Jour #8, Resp #7
Mar 27: Richerson & Boyd, 1-147
Jour #9, Resp #8
Apr 3: Richerson & Boyd, 148-257
Jour #10, Resp #9
Apr 10: Arnhart, Darwinian Natural Right, 6-121
Jour #11, Resp #10
Apr 17: Arnhart, Darwinian Natural Right, 123-230
Jour #12, Resp #11
Apr 24: Arnhart, Darwinian Conservatism, 1-129
Jour #13, Resp #12
May 1: West, 9-103
Jour #14, Resp #13