Textbook: Lifelines: Biology beyond determinism, Steven Rose (1997) Oxford University Press.

Instructor: Dr. George F. Michel                        Office: 507 Byrne Hall

Telephone: x4246                                              e-mail: gmichel@condor.depaul.edu

Office Hours: MWF 10:45-12:00 or by appointment

Rationale: After World War II, a series of UNESCO-sponsored statements by biological and social scientists spelled-out what became the consensus view for the next two decades: Athe roots of human inequality lay in the unequal distribution of wealth and power between nations, races, and classes [gender was ignored in these early statements] and not in the uniqueness of our genes@. However, in the last three decades there has been a reassertion of old Areductionist@ claims that social inequalities reflect the operation of basic biological mechanisms. Although such reassertions were energetically contested by many biological and behavioral scientists, the rise of dramatic advances in the sciences of genes (molecular biology) and brains (neuroscience) led to a media frenzy of biological determinism.

To judge from newspaper articles and general media attention, there are genes available to account for every aspect of our lives, from personal success to existential despair: genes for health and illness, genes for criminality, violence, Aabnormal@ sexual orientation - even for Acompulsive shopping@. Genes achieve these behavioral consequences by controlling the development of the structural organization of our brains, which, in turn control our behavior. Genes, through their control of brains, also are supposed explain the social inequalities that divide our lives along class, gender, race, ethnicity. This is a kind of neurogenetic determinism. Conventional wisdom considers social engineering and politics to have failed. Consequently, only genetic engineering and pharmacological engineering (of presumed neural disfunctions) hold out hopes for social change and the treatment of social Aills@.

The challenge to scientists opposed to such biological determinism has been that although they may be have been effective in critiqueing each reductionist claim when it appears, they have not provided ready access to a coherent alternative framework within which to interpret living processes which enables the others to avoid the fallacies of biological determinism. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to a conceptual framework in which living processes are understood without resorting to biological determinism. The course is designed to achieve a number of goals:

1. Convey to the student what it means to think like a holistic biologist about living processes,

2. To analyse both the strengths and limitations of the reductionist tradition which dominates much of modern popular biology,

3. To offer a perspective on biology which places the organism, not the gene, at the center of life.

These goals derive from a long standing tradition in biology and psychology reflected in a holistically integrated approach to science that accepts complexity and recognizes the need for epistomological diversity in our explorations of the nature and meaning of life. To accomplish these goals without requiring students to have extensive biological and psychological training, I have assigned a book (ALifelines: Biology beyond determinism@, written by Steven Rose for the intelligent layperson). Also, I have provided a basic bibliography that can provide the student with the foundational knowledge needed for further pursuit of these topics beyond this particular seminar experience.

Syllabus (annotated):

Date                                Topic                                                Reading (from Lifelines)

Mar. 28, 30                 Biology, Freedom, and Determinism                 Chapter 1

Student is introduced to the traditional hierarchy associated with western science that contributes to the reductionist notion that certain disciplines (e.g., biology) are more fundamental than others (e.g., psychology). The nature/nurture debate is described. The student is encouraged to consider the different disciplines as multiple ways of examining the same phenomena (epistomological diversity). The holistic approach is described and distinguished from reductionism. The nature/nurture debate is then examined within this holistic context.

April 4, 6                    Observing and Intervening                                  Chapter 2

The student is introduced to the ways of doing science (observing and intervening) and the role that metaphors, analogies, and homologies play in understanding biological and psychological phenomena. The student is led to discover how certain common metaphors, that are used for explaining the phenomena of living beings, create a bias to accept the nature/nurture distinction.

April 11, 13                 Knowing what we know                                     Chapter 3

The student is introduced to the deductive and inductive aspects of science and the distinction between Popperian and paradigmatic notions of science. This distinction serves as the context for examining the powers and limits of western science. The role of technology in defining such limits and powers is examined also. The limits reveal the value of adopting a holistic approach to understanding the relation of Abrain to mind@ and Aculture to biology@.

April 18, 20                 The Triumph of Reductionism?                             Chapter 4

The previous chapters set the stage for the intense debate that characterizes the nature-nurture controversy. Part of the debate reflects a confusion of methodological reductionism (analysis) with either theory or philosophical reductionism. The student is now introduced to the conceptual specifics of the debate. The developmental concept of Alifelines@ is introduced to facilitate comprehension of developmental processes and how these differ from notions like Aacquired vs. innate@ and Amaturation vs. experience@.

April 25, 27                     Genes and Organisms                                         Chapter 5

The student is introduced to the relation of genetics to development. The student will come to understand why genes are not Afor@ anything (e.g., trait, character, behavioral disposition). Developmental concepts are explored that reveal that DNA is not the controller of development. Any single gene is influenced by what is happening in the whole of the rest of the genome, the cell, and the environment of that cell (tissue, organ, system, organism). There are sharp limits to the tolerance of any phenotype to environmental change. However, the expression of any gene may vary over a wide range depending on the environment in which it is being expressed. The student will come to understand that genes and environment are dialectically interdependent throughout any individual=s lifeline.

May 2, 4                             Lifelines                                                          Chapter 6

Living beings exist in four dimensions in which instruction, selection and construction play vital role in sculpting the individual. Structure emerges from the self-organizing processes of development. These processes are the result of many factors interacting in non-linear ways. The student will come to understand exactly how knowledge of development is fundamental to removing the sterility and distortions of the nature-nurture debate.

May 9, 11                     Universal Darwinism?                                           Chapter 7

Darwin=s ideas of variation and its preservation are described as the basis for comprehending the strengths and weaknesses of the concepts of natural selection, adaptation, and design in nature. The student will discover how Darwin=s ideas have been distorted by some to fit pre-Darwinian racist, sexist, and classist attitudes. Others have used Darwin=s ideas to enrich our understanding of the vast complexity of life.

May 16, 18                 Beyond Ultra-Darwinism                                         Chapter 8

Ultra-Darwinism refers to those positions that adopt a genetic determinism for much of behavior. The case against genetic determinism is presented via examples demonstrating that natural selection works at various levels beyond genes and genomes. Also, evidence is presented that natural selection is not the only factor contributing to evolutionary change. Developmental constraints limit the influence of natural selection, allowing organisms to become players in their own destiny. Such dialectic destroys the basis of the nature/nurture debate.

May 23, 25                 Origin Myths                                                          Chapter 9

Theories of the origin of life are examined and evidence presented for the initial chemical abiotic syntheses of coacervates and catalytic webs before the arrival of replicators (RNA, DNA). The student is introduced to origin-of-life theories that also destroy the basis of the nature/nurture debate. By this time in the course, the student will have become a much more sophisticated consumer of the neuroscience and behavior-genetic information presented in the media.

May 30, June 1         The Poverty of Reductionism                                   Chapters 10 & 11

At this point, the student will understand how individuals and environments interpenetrate throughout development. They will be able to construct their own arguments against neurogenetic determinism, mind-body dualism, biology-culture reductionism, etc. They will appreciate exactly how all living beings construct their own futures.

Learning Activities:

At the first meeting of each week, the student will hand in three questions (with answers) that address specific issues from the reading assigned for that week (this will facilitate discussion during the seminar meetings). In addition, at the first meeting of each week, the student will submit a two page account of what they had learned during the previous week. Three times during the quarter the student will produce a six to eight page paper that summarizes their current understanding of the nature/nature debate and its resolution. The first paper will be due 1:30 on April 4th (after the first week of classes), the second will be due 1:30 on May 2nd (after midterm week), and the third paper will be due by noon on June 5th (the beginning of final exam week).

Grading:

Students will be graded on:

1.    the quality of both the questions and the answers that they provide in the nine homework assignments (36%),

2.    their nine weekly accounts of what they learned during the previous week (27%),

3.    their three papers summarizing their current understanding of the debate and its resolution (30%)

4.    participation in classroom discussion (7%).

Brief Bibliography:

Bateson, P. P. G. (Ed.). (1991). The development and integration of behavior. NY: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Blass, E. M. (Ed.). (1986). Handbook of behavioral neurobiology. Vol. 8. Developmental psychobiology and developmental neurobiology. NY: Plenum Press.

Blass, E. M. (Ed.). (1988). Handbook of behavioral neurobiology. Vol. 9. Developmental psychobiology and behavioral ecology. NY: Plenum Press.

Gottlieb, G. (1992). Individual development and evolution: The genesis of novel behavior. NY: Oxford Univ. Press.

Gould, S. J. (1977). Ontogeny and phylogeny. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

Kitcher, P. (1985). Vaulting ambition: Sociobiology and the quest for human nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Lewontin, R. C. (1996). Human diversity. San Francisco: Freeman

Michel, G. F. & Moore, C. L. (1995). Developmental psychobiology: An interdisciplinary science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Rose, S. (1998). Lifelines: Biology beyond determinism. NY: Oxford Univ. Press.

Rose, S., Lewontin, R. C., & Kamin, L. (1984). Not in our genes. NY: Penguin.

Schlichting, C. D. & Pigliucci, M. (1998). Phenotypic evolution: A reaction norm perspective. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.