Evolution: Genesis and Revelations: With Readings from Empedocles to Wilson

In this comprehensive history of evolutionism, C. Leon Harris has combined primary source readings with clear, pertinent background information, to provide a solid basic understanding of the ways scientists have arrived at today's views of evolution. Harris describes the major contributors to the theory of evolutionism, placing each in the context of the general cultural influences to which he was exposed. Each chapter also contains an explanation of the philosophical basis of the scientific approach of the period in question. A lengthy bibliography provides direction for further reading on this important and timely subject.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Evolution: What Is It? Genesis: The History of Evolutionism Revelations: Evolution and Philosophy 1. Prescientific Concepts of the Origin of Species:Genesis The Prescientific Mind The Evolution of Genesis Selection Genesis, Chapters I and 2 Fundamentalists versus Evolution: The Origin of Specious Arguments 2. The Origin of Science: Ancient Greece The Pre-Socratic Philosopher-Scientists Socrates Plato Aristotle Epicurus Lucretius Selections Empedocles, six fragments Plato, from Timaeus Aristotle, from History of Animals Lucretius, from On the Nature of Things The Creation of Science: Instructions for the Post-Scientific Age 3. The Infanticide of Science: Rome and the Middle Ages Augustine and the Dark Ages Thomas Aquinas and the Late Middle Ages Selections Augustine, from The City of God Thomas Aquinas, from Summa Theologica Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind 4. Born Again: the Revival of Science in the Renaissance Bacon Descartes Redi Selections Bacon, from Novum Organum Descartes, from Discourse on Method Redi, from Experiments on the Generation of Insects The Uses and Limitations of Scientific Methods 5. The Genesis of Evolutionism: the French Phase Maupertuis Diderot Lamarck Selections Maupertuis, from The Earthly Venus Diderot, from Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature Lamarck, from Zoological Philosophy The Illusion of Method in Scientific Creativity 6. The Genesis of Evolutionism: The British Phase Erasmus Darwin Wells Matthew Other Pre-Darwinian Evolutionists Selections E. Darwin, from Zoonomia Wells, from Account of a Female of the White Race of Mankind Matthew, from On Naval Timber and Aboriculture Rhyme and Reason 7. Darwin and Wallace: Evolutionary Convergence Childhood Education Voyages The Conception of Evolution by Natural Selection Selection Darwin 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 Grind 8. Darwinism is Dead: Long Live Neo-Darwinism Charles Darwin's Provisional Hypothesis of Pangenesis Weismann Mendel Haldane Selections Darwin, from The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Weismann, from Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems Mendel, from "Experiments on Plant Hybrids" Haldane, from The Causes of Evolution The Art of Science 9. Modern Times: Marxism, Lysenkoism, and Sociobiology Marxism Lysenko Wilson Selections Lysenko, from The Science of Biology Today Wilson, from Sociobiology Getting Bad Marx in Science Notes Bibliography Index

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

Review :
"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