darwinorigin

=Multiple layers in influencing an audience: The case of Darwin's On the Origin of Species=

1. Introduction Having been sensitized to the story telling aspect of scientific writing, to the dominant structural themes adopted in accounts or origins, and to the ideas of nature that were invoked before Darwin to support ideas of the social order (the actual, idealised, or desired order), we are now in a better position to read Darwin and interpret his ideas on evolution and on the means by which it occurs.
 * Williams's account of the history of ideas of nature conveys a general trend: Ever increasing interaction of societies with/in nature -> idea that nature has a history -> evolutionary theories of nature -> contested issue: do humans evolve too?
 * Darwin's specific contribution: The idea that everything in nature is adapted to its place, but that this is the result of an on-going struggle for existence, not given by creation once and for all.
 * Broad-brush interpretation of Darwin's idea about how evolution happens: The idea of evolution by natural selection relates to and supports a dominant idea about social order, namely, that one’s place in society is a result of a natural process of selection, and, given that the result is adapted, this is right/ justifiable/ as good as we could hope for.
 * Such an interpretation raises a question: What did Darwin actually //do// in his scientific research that resulted in a theory that fits that social interpretation?

1b. Mini-lecture: Given that one of the things Darwin did was write to convince his various audiences, this lecture introduces 4 layers of argument in Darwin's text and models close reading of the introduction and part of chapter 1.

2. Reading Darwin, C. (1859 [1964]). Introduction & Chapters 1, 3, part of 4. In On the Origin of Species. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1-43, 60-96. (Available widely on the internet or via password-protected readings.)

This is the first full length treatment Darwin published of his theory of natural selection. He is carefully building up an argument so let us read closely, assuming that everything has a point. In class we will unpack the multiple layers of a scientific theory, in this case, the argument, analogy, metaphor, and defences. To prepare for this, make a copy of the following table and fill in the right-hand column as best you can from your reading. include component="page" wikiName="crcrth645" page="Session5Worksheet" editable="1"

3. Activity Clarify and extend what this scaffolding helped you learn from the reading.

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