January 28, 2003

Lindley Darden

University of Maryland, College Park

Spring 2003

Aims of the course: This course will discuss topics in the philosophy of the biological sciences, including evolutionary biology, ecology, neuroscience, developmental biology, and molecular biology. It will deal with such as topics as whether biology can be reduced to chemistry/physics, the issue of reasoning in the discovery of mechanisms, the nature of biological theories, whether there are laws in biology, and the relations between theories and experiments. The readings will be articles by philosophers and scientists that use detailed cases from the sciences to address philosophical issues.

Useful details: Instructor: Lindley Darden, Professor of Philosophy. Office: 1107C Skinner; Mailbox: Philosophy Department, 1125A Skinner; Phone: 301-405-5699. Office hours: 2-3 Tuesday and by appointment. Email: darden@carnap.umd.edu Web page: http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/Faculty/LDarden/

Requirements. Two take-home examinations, a class presentation, a cumulative final examination, and short writing assignments. The take-home exams will be handed out in class, as indicated on the syllabus. They must be turned in on the due dates. A late exam receives a lower grade; the grade decreases by a portion of a letter grade for each day (24 hour period) that the exam is late; for example, turning in an exam due at 12:30 at 12:40 will decrease an A to an A-. Thus it is possible to receive an F because of lateness. However, an F is not a 0, which is given for failure to turn in an exam and will result in failure of the course.

Optional paper: if there is a topic on which the student would like to write a 8-10 term paper instead of taking the second take-home examination, then s/he should talk to the instructor to discuss the topic. The paper will be due the day the second take-home examination is due; an optional earlier draft may be turned in for comments before that deadline.

Short writing assignments: For each class, each student should write one page. On this page, there should be a one paragraph summary of the main point(s) of the article, followed by at least two questions for discussion. Sufficient copies for everyone in the class should be brought to class. There will be 24 articles read in the course; 20 short writing assignments will be counted in the final grade. If you are sick or for some other excused reason unable to attend class, use that as one of the short assignments that you do not turn in. Late short assignments will usually not be accepted.

The class presentation will be like a journal club presentation. The student will choose an article in philosophy of biology from one of the following journals: Biology & Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science, History and Philosophy of the Life Science, make copies for everyone in the class to distribute the class before the presentation, handout a one page summary of the article with at least two questions for discussion the day of the presentation, then present the main points of the article in class and lead a class discussion on it.

Regular class attendance for the entire class period is expected.

Grading: The take-home exams and final exam must all be completed to receive a passing grade in the course; in other words, completing them is a necessary, but not a sufficient, requirement to pass the course. Each take-home exam and the final exam count 20 points ; the average of 20 short writing assignments counts 20 points in the final grade; and the class presentation counts 20 points.

Subscribe to Email List: There is an email discussion forum for the class. All students should have email accounts and will be expected to receive the material on the list throughout the semester. If you do not have an email account, go to the Computer Science Center and sign up for a wam account. Once you have an email account, from your regular email account, subscribe to the listserv: send a message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu Put no subject in the subject line. As the only line of the text of the message type: subscribe phil456 your first and last names, e.g., subscribe phil456 Charles Darwin Reply to confirmation message with ok within 24 hours. When you want to send messages to the class, send the message to phil456@listserv.umd.edu Note the difference between the address for subscribing and the address for sending messages.

Honesty: Honesty on the part of students is presumed. The student is expected to be familiar with the University of Maryland Code of Academic Integrity: http://www.inform.umd.edu/jpo/ Students may get help with the grammar and structure of their writing, such as at the Writing Center (Room 0125, Taliaferro Hall, walk-in or call 301-405-3785 for appt.). However, students may not get unacknowledged help with the content of their work. Please contact the instructor with any questions about what is acceptable or unacceptable outside help. Learn exactly what plagiarism is and avoid it. Please put the honor pledge on your papers and exams: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination."

Required text: Packet of articles for Phil 456 available at the Maryland Book Exchange

Assignments:

http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/Faculty/LDarden/Research/pubs/dardencain.html

Introduction to Philosophy of Ecology

by Gregory M. Mikkelson (no short writing assignment due)

Darden, L., "Introduction to Philosophy of Molecular Biology"

Darden, Lindley (manuscript), "Relations Among Fields: Mendelian, Cytological, and Molecular Mechanisms"

Introduction to Philosophy of Neuroscience

by Carl Craver (no short writing assignment due)