12th International Interdisciplinary Seminar
Barcellona, 1-6 January 2010
Charles Darwin and Evolution
Call for contributions and possible topics
History
- Pre-Darwinian ideas about origins – new geology – Paley – Lamark
- Darwin’s early life – voyage of the Beagle – Wallace – first edition of ‘Origin of Species’ in 1859 and the reactions to "Origin of Species"
- The structure of DNA – the growth of genetics
- Optimism in search for human genome – the actual results
Science
- Age and conditions on Earth needed for life
- The origin of the first "life"
- The current state of evolutionary biology; experimental evidences of the evolution of the H. sapiens sapiens (e.g. studies about the so-called H. antecessor, Bermudez de Castro, 2005, Nature). The data on the human migrations (Sabeti, 2006, Science).
- Do Darwinian rule "genetic mutation and natural selection" explain everything ? The simpatric speciation hot topic.
- Can quantum physics explain the DNA mutations ?
- The genetic mutations and the origin of the life: a probabilistic approach to molecular genetics
Philosophy
- Evolution and intelligent design
- Evolution and creationism
- Evolution and belief in God
- Teleology
Deeper Questions
- Why philosophy and science are different – and what are the differences
- The unstated assumptions of science
Some quotes and useful documents.
Charles Darwin
It is a cursed evil to any man to become as absorbed in any subject as I am in mine. Charles Darwin
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin
Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits. Charles Darwin
Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence. Charles Darwin
My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. Charles Darwin
On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created, we gain no scientific explanation. Charles Darwin
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin
Man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits. Charles Darwin
Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence. Charles Darwin
My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. Charles Darwin
On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created, we gain no scientific explanation. Charles Darwin
Theory of evolution
DISF - Interdisciplinary dictionary
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