GS 204: Spirit & Nature: Religion & Science
Weeks 1 & 2 Schedule
Week 1: “Seeing and Saying”
9/5 INTRODUCTION
9:00 Opening Convocation
10:30 Class Session
1:15 Class Session - Video: “Spirit & Nature”
Read:
Jeans: "Some Problems of Philosophy"
Wilson: Global Biodiversity - Intro, Global Patterns - Intro & Understanding Map Data.
Ruether: Gaia & God, pp. 1-12.
"Reacting to the Past" Series: Charles Darwin, The Copley
Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism.
9/6 NARRATIVES AND MAPS: MYTH AND THEORY
9:00 Class Session
1:00 Introduction to the Darwin Re-Acting Game
Read:
Gottlieb, pp. 1-20, 39-45, 54-82, 90-91, 110-112, 157-179, and Ruether, pp. 15-71
9/7 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS
8:00-3:00! FIELD TRIP; Meet at Tutt Library at the corner of Cascade
& San Rafael.
Prepare:
Draft of Garden of the Gods “Story”
Read:
Goodenough, pp. ix-xxi; Ch. I
Darwin Re-Acting Game: For Students: Introduction to "Reacting To
the Past, pp. 48-54 and Writing Advisories 1-4.
9/8 ORDERING IMPRESSIONS
9:00 Class Session: Bring a 2 copies of the draft of your story
10:45: Setting the Stage for the Darwin Re-Acting Game.
Revise and finish:
Garden of the Gods “Story”
Read:
Hume, pp. 1-15
9/9 SHARING STORIES
9:00 Class Session.
10:45: Beginning Discussion of Hume
Read:
Hume, pp. 15-53; Goodenough, Ch. II,
Darwin Re-Acting Game: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, pp. i-iv, 1-37
Wilson: Biodiversity over Time - Intro; History of Life - Intro, Life on Earth - Phanerozoic - Explorations, Mass Extinctions
Week 2: “How Do We Know?”
9/12 HUME’S ANALYSIS OF KNOWING
9:00 Class Session
Read:
Hume, pp. 53-102, Darwin, “Instinct”
Gottlieb, pp 351-4
Wilson: Diversity of Life - Intro; No. of Species - Intro, Described Species activity, Total Species on Earth, New Frontiers.
9/13 HUME’S ANALYSIS OF KNOWING, FREEDOM & DETERMINISM, REASON OF ANIMALS, & MIRACLES
9:00 Class Session
Read:
Eck, Encountering God, pp. 1-80, 144-65
Wilson: New Biodiversity - Natural Selection, Production of Ecosystem Diversity - Prairie
9/14 RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
9:00 Class Session
Read:
Eck, pp. 166-231
Wilson: Tree of Life - Kingdom Plantae-Vascular plants - gymnosperms; angiosperms - dicotyledons, monocotyledons; pine family; coniferous forests
9/15 EXCLUSIVE, INCLUSIVE, & PLURALISTIC RELIGIONS
9:00 Class Session
PM: First Meeting of the Council of Fellows of the Royal Society: "The
Efficacy of Prayer." (Time & Location to be decided.)
Read:
“Linnean Papers;” Goodenough, Chs. III-IV,
Wilson: Plant Species Diversity (Zoom in on N.A.); Exotic Species; Explaining Distribution Patterns - Intro, Puzzling Distributions & Plate Tectonics; Distribution of Plant Communities; Animation: Assembly of Northern Hardwood forest.
9/16 NATURAL SELECTION & EVOLUTION
9:00 Class Session
Read:
Gottlieb: 130-3, 145-67, 180-5, 285-350.
Nature at Work, pp. 56-63.