DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
TWENTY STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Write a brief character description of Charles Darwin at the time he was about to leave on the Beagle voyage. (Think of it perhaps as a letter back home describing a former college roommate.)

2. Describe the circumstances by which Darwin became the Beagle's naturalist. Be sure to mention the various roles played by people like Henslow, Uncle Jos, Darwin's father, and Captain FitzRoy.

3. List three of the objections to Darwin's participation on the voyage that his father had, and how did Uncle Jos rebut them?

4. Discuss the opinions of naturalists, ca. 1830s, with respect to: a) design in nature; b) age of the Earth; c) the nature of species; d) Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism.

5. Define extinction. What were the differing views of extinction held by J.-B. Lamarck, G. Cuvier, and C. Lyell?

6. What are the three myths with respect to Darwin's visit to the Galpagos Islands? What in fact do we know the real situation to have been? (See reading by Frank Sulloway in Articles.)

7. Identify three geological (not biological) phenomena that Darwin had observed on the Beagle voyage and indicate how each contributed to his subsequent theorizing about the origin of species.

8. With respect to "natural selection" as discussed in On the Origin of Species: a) define natural selection; b) what are the chief factors responsible for natural selection?; c) how does natural selection lead to descent with modification?; d) why does natural selection not operate for the good of another species?; e) why does natural selection not lead to "perfection"?

9. What is meant by "Unity of Type" and" Divergence of Character"? How are the two concepts related to each other?

10. Explain fully the meaning of the following quote from Darwin's Autobiography: ‚"During the voyage of the Beagle I had been deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil animals covered with armor like that on the existing Armadillos; secondly, by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one another in proceeding southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by the South American character of most of the productions of the Galápagos archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ slightly on each island of the group; none of these islands appearing to be very ancient in the geological sense. It was evident that facts such as these, as well as many others, could be explained on the supposition that species gradually become modified; and the subject haunted me" (p. 118).

11. Define the "contexts of discovery and of justification‚"and discuss them with respect to the specific example of Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

12. What contribution did Johann Gregor Mendel make to Darwinian evolutionary theory? Why did it take some 35 years for his work to be appreciated for the contribution it was?

13. What is meant by the "modern evolutionary synthesis" and how has it clarified and expanded Darwin's "origin of species" and "descent with modification"?

14. Define "social Darwinism." What is the evidence for and against that Darwin himself was a social Darwinist? (see reading by Alland in the Articles).

15. Based on the epistemology of each side explain why the debate between the Creationists and the evolutionists is inherently irresolvable.

16. Do you think the term "Darwinian revolution" is apt? Why or why not?

17. What preconceptions about Darwin and evolution did you have when you first came to this course? What if any were overturned? What if any remain?

18. Given what you know now about Darwin, what would you like to pursue further about the subject? That is, what questions remain for you about him and his work?

19. What do you most dislike about Darwin and his theory? From what intellectual or philosophical flaw in yourself does that arise?

20. What question(s) do think should have been included here? Why?
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.