Subject Area: History and Philosophy of Science

This course uses Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as an entry point to explore the dramatic development of the life sciences in the later 19th century, and the shifting cultural and political implications of modern science more generally. Students will read the greater part of Darwin's 'Origin of Species' themselves as well as a range of scholarly secondary sources interpreting nineteenth- and early-twentieth century biological and medical science in historical context, from various contrasting historiographical perspectives. Specific topics will include natural history and the Enlightenment; Romantic life science; imperialism and science; mechanistic biology and the industrial revolution; social Darwinism; neo-Lamarckism and its politics in the early twentieth century; neo-Darwinism and the cold war.