Evolution: Genesis and Revelations

C. Leon Harris is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the State University of New York College, Plattsburgh.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Evolution: What Is It?Genesis: The History of EvolutionismRevelations: Evolution and Philosophy1. Prescientific Concepts of the Origin of Species:Genesis The Prescientific MindThe Evolution of GenesisSelectionGenesis, Chapters I and 2Fundamentalists versus Evolution: The Origin of SpeciousArguments2. The Origin of Science: Ancient Greece The Pre-Socratic Philosopher-ScientistsSocratesPlatoAristotleEpicurusLucretiusSelectionsEmpedocles, six fragmentsPlato, from TimaeusAristotle, from History of AnimalsLucretius, from On the Nature of ThingsThe Creation of Science: Instructions for the Post-Scientific Age3. The Infanticide of Science: Rome and the Middle Ages Augustine and the Dark AgesThomas Aquinas and the Late Middle AgesSelectionsAugustine, from The City of GodThomas Aquinas, from Summa TheologicaClose Encounters of the Absurd Kind4. Born Again: the Revival of Science in the Renaissance BaconDescartesRediSelectionsBacon, from Novum OrganumDescartes, from Discourse on MethodRedi, from Experiments on the Generation of InsectsThe Uses and Limitations of Scientific Methods5. The Genesis of Evolutionism: the French Phase MaupertuisDiderotLamarckSelectionsMaupertuis, from The Earthly VenusDiderot, from Thoughts on the Interpretation of NatureLamarck, from Zoological PhilosophyThe Illusion of Method in Scientific Creativity6. The Genesis of Evolutionism: The British Phase Erasmus DarwinWellsMatthewOther Pre-Darwinian EvolutionistsSelectionsE. Darwin, from ZoonomiaWells, from Account of a Female of the White Race of MankindMatthew, from On Naval Timber and AboricultureRhyme and Reason7. Darwin and Wallace: Evolutionary Convergence ChildhoodEducationVoyagesThe Conception of Evolution by Natural SelectionSelectionDarwin and Wallace, "On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection"Survival of the Fittest: An Axiom to Grind8. Darwinism is Dead: Long Live Neo-Darwinism Charles Darwin's Provisional Hypothesis of PangenesisWeismannMendelHaldaneSelectionsDarwin, from The Variation of Animals and Plants under DomesticationWeismann, from Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Biological ProblemsMendel, from "Experiments on Plant Hybrids"Haldane, from The Causes of EvolutionThe Art of Science9. Modern Times: Marxism, Lysenkoism, and Sociobiology MarxismLysenkoWilsonSelectionsLysenko, from The Science of Biology TodayWilson, from SociobiologyGetting Bad Marx in ScienceNotes Bibliography Index

"In teaching, I have often wished that someone would bring together many of the primary source readings which Harris has compiled. Equally valuable is his fresh and exuberant approach, in which familiar questions take on new dimensions. I find this book exciting and likely to stimulate classroom discussion." — Professor Jane Maienschein, Dickenson College