Nov 22, 2024
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2024-25
HIST 3550 - The Age of Darwin, 1800-Present
What is life, and where did it come from? This course presents a historical survey of how people have attempted to answer that question since 1800, by situating the revolutionary impact of Victorian British naturalist Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution in its age. Beginning with key moments in the development of evolutionary theory, the course then explores its reception in Britain, Europe, and Asia. Emphasis is on the social and historical context of ideas as well as controversies and religious disputes, the relationship between ideas and the public especially through popular media, and the various uses of evolutionary ideas in wider arguments about humanity and society. It concludes with a consideration of how historical debates on evolution resonate with debates in the present.
Requisites: Soph or Jr or Sr
Credit Hours: 3
General Education Code (students who entered prior to Fall 2021-22): 2HL
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will be able to identify and articulate how evolutionary ideas were interpreted as well as used in their specific social and historical context with reference to the course topics.
- Students will be able to identify and articulate how historical change in society has shaped technical ideas, practices, and people with reference to the course topics.
- Students will be able to compare evolutionary ideas and their social implications between different societies as well as different times.
- Students will be able to present and explain, both orally and in writing, a historical research finding that employs a variety of scholarly resources and demonstrates their interpretive skills (as described in the other three outcome goals).
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