This announcement for the "Biology and Purpose" summer seminar has
already been posted on this listserv several times. However, please
note that we have added a paragraph of clarification for physical and
laboratory scientists. We would like to encourage scientists to apply
so that we can achieve a balance of scientists and non-scientists in the
group. Please contact me with any questions.
Kerry Schutt Nason
Seminars in Christian Scholarship
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Seminar Announcement: "Biology and Purpose: Altruism, Morality, and
Human Nature in Evolutionary Theory," Dr. Philip Clayton, Professor of
Philosophy, Sonoma State University and Dr. Jeffrey Schloss, Professor
of Biology, Westmont College. July 2-27, 2001. Funded by the John
Templeton Foundation. APPLICATIONS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY FEBRUARY 9,
2001.
The goals of this seminar are to provide a rigorous, even-handed, and
highly interdisciplinary assessment of the current "evolution and human
nature" debates in light of theological and philosophical concerns and
new theories in population genetics, sociobiology, evolutionary
psychology, and emerging, alternative approaches. Applications from all
disciplines are encouraged, in order to stimulate publishable,
integrative scholarship that is both scientifically sound and
theologically astute.
CLARIFICATION FOR PHYSICAL AND LABORATORY SCIENTISTS: The goals of this
seminar are to provide a rigorous and even-handed assessment of the
current "evolution and human nature" debates, in light of new theories
in population genetics, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, Darwinian
anthropology, ethology, and evoultionary neuroscience, with the goal of
fostering publishable, interdisciplinary scholarship that is both
scientifically sound and theologically astute. While our ultimate goal
is to explore the relationship between evolutionary theories of human
nature and philosophical & theological perspectives on altruism,
morality, and human purpose, in order to do this we will emphasize the
scientific literature and engage the extraordinary latitude in and
controversy over current biological theories. Issues we will examine
include the renewed debate over group selection, cognitive wholism vs.
modularity, reproductive optimality vs. pleiotropy and non-adaptive
processes in evolution, directionality & disteleology in natural
selection, and controversies over memetics and other hierarchical or
dualistic accounts of human evolution. The first two and a half weeks of
the seminar will entail lectures
and readings that emphasize the scientific material, including guest
lecturers by two international leaders in evolutionary biology; the
latter one and a half weeks will be explicitly integrative. We are very
much hoping to have a lively mix of disciplines represented by
participants, and all of us should be drawn beyond the boundaries of our
own disciplines to address questions that are not just multi- but
genuinely interdisciplinary.
Participants will receive a stipend of $2500 and free lodging during
the seminar. See the program web site for details and to download an
application form (www.calvin.edu/fss/temple01.htm).
Calvin College Seminars in Christian Scholarship
Email: seminars@calvin.edu
Phone: 616-957-8558
www.calvin.edu/fss
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