Demarcation criteria - Summarize differing views of criteria for demarcating science from nonscience.  Read and critique http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_methodological.htm (and/or any other articles on this subject you find helpful). What are the difficulties in demarcating science from nonscience?  Is it important to demarcate science from nonscience or pseudoscience in our society?  If so, when and why?  How are the terms "science" and "pseudoscience" used in debates about origins?  Can science be defined as an entity that is objective and independent of either the naturalistic or theistic worldviews?  Discuss various demarcation criteria that have appeared in our readings and how they are used.  What are the consequences of applying these universally (i.e. are key aspects of the historical sciences or theoretical physics excluded)?   Choose several demarcation criteria, and decide whether it is theoretically possible for science, so defined, to point to design.  Is a design inference pseudoscience?

 
 
 

Protecting the integrity of science - Is the integrity of science more negatively impacted by an open (naturalism may or may not be a complete description) or closed (naturalism must be held as a truth beyond question) philosophical view?  Discuss how violations of scientific integrity can occur in each case. Discuss any violations of scientific integrity that occur or are discussed in our readings (Lemley, Shapiro, Davies, Miller/Behe exchanges, others).  Can one practice science and maintain scientific integrity without holding naturalism as "a truth beyond question"   How might a dogmatic adherence to theological views impact the integrity of the scientific process?
 
 

The usefulness of a design paradigm in science - Some researchers are beginning to see value in a design or systems approach to biology.  Review a series of recent articles in Science (see us for the references) on the subject of networks and "good engineering principles" in biology.  Another option would be to summarize some of the topics discussed at a recent conference on comparing design in nature with science and engineering (http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2004/design04/index.html).  How might a design approach impact the way research is done?  What kinds of new questions would be asked?  Is reverse-engineering a design approach?   Given that design can be either apparent or real, what impact, if any, might this shift in approach have on the philosophical debate?
 
 

"Junk" DNA - Review the history of this topic (see us for articles to get started).  Review "The Gems of 'junk' DNA" in Scientific American, Nov. 2003   view article .   Discuss the evidence and reasoning that led scientists to conclude that large portions of genomes are useless junk leftover from an evolutionary history.  Summarize recently discovered insights into various functions for some of the so-called junk DNA and the various levels at which information is stored in the genome.  Use this example to discuss the danger of making strong conclusions based on inferential evidence in the historical sciences, and any role that philosophical presuppositions might have played.
 
 

Life on Mars  -  Review the history of the search for evidence of life on Mars (Viking probe, ALH84001, recent missions involving rovers, see us for articles).  Discuss the roles that science, faith, and philosophy have played in this endeavor, especially in the way this has played out in the media.  Summarize the current status of scientific knowledge about life ever existing on Mars.
 
 
 

The ubiquity of convergence - Review Chap 10 of "Life's Solution" by Simon Conway Morris and his article in New Scientist Nov 16, 2002 pg 26-29.  Summarize the observations that lead him to conclude that convergence is ubiquitous and thus crucial for understanding the history of life.  What does he conclude from these observations about the history of life?  Contrast his view with the view of the late Steven Jay Gould (compare their differing views of such concepts as 'progress', random diffusion within the available molecular, macroscopic, and behavioral  hyperspace versus the channelling of evolutionary trajectories towards functional endpoints, and the likely result if the history of life were rerun).  Comment on Conway Morris' critique of an intelligent design interpretation of the observations (see also the preface and Chapter 11).  Describe his critique of the worldview position of the 'ulta-Darwinists' in Chapter 11, and the worldview conclusions he draws from these observations.  See the following link below for a review of this book    http://www.arn.org/docs2/news/RossReview121803.htm
 
 

Origin versus operation - Discuss the distinction between origin and operation with regard to biological and cosmological origins.  Is this distinction valid in your view?  If so, how can the distinction be made?  Discuss these concepts with respect to the following examples: automobile/train (Davies, pg 39,40), a symphony (Davies pg 43), industrial progress (Davies pg 124).  How, if at all, do these examples relate to the question of biological origins?
 
 
 

Specified complexity - Describe this concept as discussed by Dembski (http://www.discovery.org/viewDB/index.php3?program=CRSC&command=view&id=62) and Davies (pg 115-122).  How do design proponents use this argument and what response/rebuttal is offered in defense of naturalism? (see Davies, Kauffman, and http://www.talkorigins.org/design/faqs/nfl/)
 
 
 

Irreducible complexity - Describe this concept as discussed by M. Behe (for example in http://www.discovery.org/viewDB/index.php3?program=CRSC&command=view&id=54%20, or in Darwin's Black Box), Davies (chapter on the chicken and egg paradox, also pg 121).  How do design proponents use this argument and what response/rebuttal is offered in defense of naturalism? (Miller and others, see me for references)  Examine one specific example in detail, either blood clotting or Barry Hall's work on the LAC operon (#1 and #5, respectively, in the list on the website http://www.unm.edu/~hdelaney/iccounter.html)
 
 
 

Exchanges between Dembski and H. Orr - Evaluate the strength and weaknesses of the arguments for and against the intelligent design view in the following exchanges between W. Dembski and H. Orr.

http://www.designinference.com/documents/2002.12.Unfettered_Resp_to_Orr.htm

http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR27.3/orr.html

http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR27.5/exchange.html
 
 
 

Creating life in the laboratory - What is life? What does it mean to "create life in the laboratory".  How close are scientists to accomplishing that?  Compare and contrast cloning, in-vitro fertilization, the prebiotic simulation experiments of Stanley Miller, and others (see me for additional articles).  Discuss the relevance of that event (creating life in the laboratory), should it occur, to the origin-of-life question.
 
 
 

Origin of chirality - review and critique ideas and experimental progress on the problem of the origin of chirality in proteins and DNA/RNA.(See me for a list of references).
 
 

Origin of life:  "top down"versus "bottom up" - In class we discussed the "bottom up" approach to the origin of life.  Review the literature on the "top down" approach (see me for references).  Describe this approach and summarize the current status.  Discuss the outlook for combining the "top down" approach with the "bottom up" approach.  Do the two approaches appear to be leading to consistent conclusions, i.e. meeting somewhere in the middle, or are they leading to contradictory conclusions?  If you choose, you may listen to one or two lectures on this topic (available on CD, see me for copies) and provide a summary/critique.
 
 

Multiple Universes? - One way to explain the remarkable fine-tuning of our universe is to postulate that an infinite number of universes exist.  In that case it is logical that we would show up in the one that is precisely tuned as a cosmic selection effect.   The cover of the May 2003 issue of Scientific American reads "Infinite Earths Parallel Universes Reallly Exist".  Review and discuss the article by Max Tegmark beginning on page 41, and also a review of this article view critique
 
 

Design or naturalism? - Based on current knowledge as well as trends in scientific knowledge/progress over time, which inference (design or naturalism) do you believe is most warranted?  What factors contribute in making such an inference?

 

 

 

Teaching origins-related science in public schools -  review and summarize the public debate that has recently played out in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Georgia (see us for links to articles and websites).  What are the different concerns that have been expressed and the different proposals that have been offered for addressing this topic in the classroom.  What should be the key principles to follow in treating this subject in public shool classrooms?
 
 
 
 

The theory of evolution viewed from the perspective of intellectual history as a plank in the platform of metaphysical naturalism.  This is the way that Douglas Futuyma introduces Darwinism in this textbook Evolutionary Biology (1986, p. 3) - as a logical complement to Marx and Freud’s reductionistic projects aimed at making theological explanations unnecessary.  This raises various interesting questions, such as "Do philosophical assumptions play as prominent a role in evolutionary theory as they do in Marxist or Freudian thought?", "Is Darwinism destined for the same discrediting on empirical grounds as Marxist and Freudian thought?".  A wide variety of sources could be drawn upon including Phillip Johnson's Darwin on Trial, or Robert Wright's The Moral Animal.
 
 

The evolution of scientific creationism. One might also locate creationism within intellectual history.  A landmark study of the history of creationism, focusing primarily on what is called "young-earth creationism" is Ronald Numbers' "The Creationists".
 
 

Evolution and academic freedom. In 2001 the U.S. Senate adopted the Santorum Amendment to the White House-sponsored education bill stating that “good science education should prepare students to distinguish the data or testable theories of science from philosophical or religious claims that are made in the name of science”.  Although overwhelmingly supported by the Senate, this amendment, surprisingly to some, was opposed by some mainstream groups of science and science educators.  Should science education prepare students to distinguish the data from philosophy?  Does academic freedom extend to questioning dogmas associated with science as well as to questioning dogmas associated with other perspectives?  Resources on this question would include Phillip Johnson's The Right Questions.
 
 

Philosophical implications of evolutionary naturalism.  Charles Darwin wrote "With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.  Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?"  Noted philosopher Alvin Plantinga has recently argued that Darwin's doubt is justified.  That is, Plantinga maintains that the probability is low that human cognitive faculties are reliable sources of truth if they were produced by naturalistic evolution. This has led to lively debate among philosophers.  See the recently published collection of essays on Plantinga's "Evolutionary argument against naturalism".
 
 

Mathematical challenges to neo-Darwinian evolution.  From the 1960's to the present, mathematicians have raised questions about the plausibility of chance mechanisms doing the work required of them by  neo-Darwinian theory.  These have included arguments based on the vanishingly small probabilities of arranging polypeptide chains in the correct order by chance, and the similarly infinitesimal probabilities of positive mutations occurring by chance.  Resources would include Moorhead & Kaplan's Mathematical challenges to the Neo-Darwinian Interpretation of Evolution (1967), Dembski's recent No Free Lunch (2002), or sources cited by Dean Overman in A Case against Accident and Self-Organization.