Course syllabus

Welcome to PHIL263/363: Philosophy of Biology.

Here is the course outline.

Meeting times:
Lectures (263 + 363): Tuesdays 1pm–3pm in Building 421W (Architecture), Room 301
263 Tutorials: Thursdays 10am–11am in Building 810 (1–11 Short Street), Room 326
363 Tutorials: Thursdays 9am–10am in Building 810 (1–11 Short Street), Room 326

Course Coordinator and Lecturer: Dr Emily Parke
Email: e.parke@auckland.ac.nz 
Office hours: Wednesdays 2pm–4pm, or other times by appointment
Office: Room 427, Building 206 (Humanities)

Tutor: Sidney Diamante
Email: sdia185@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Office hours: Tuesdays 4:30pm–5:30pm
Office: Room 304, Building 206 (Humanities)

Class Rep: Your SSCC Class Rep is Connor McMahon. Please contact him if there are any issues about the course which you would like to raise anonymously with the course coordinator and/or raise with the SSCC: cmcm808@aucklanduni.ac.nz.

Tuākana Mentor: Nathan Rew (nrew454@aucklanduni.ac.nz). Nate's cohort includes all Māori and Pacific students enrolled in Philosophy courses in stage 1 through to 3. 

Course Description:

You are probably already familiar with some philosophical issues involving biology, as they’re portrayed in the media: For example, the evolution/creationism debate, or the effects of new genetic research on our understanding of humans (the human mind, human sexuality, or human nature). Philosophers of biology engage with these sorts of issues and many others, including: What exactly is natural selection, and does it act on individual organisms, genes, or groups of organisms? Does natural selection explain everything about the amazing diversity and complexity we see in the living world? If all individual organisms are fundamentally self-interested, how on earth do self-sacrificing behaviours, like sharing food, evolve? What is life, anyway, and where did it come from? 

We will address these and a range of other questions about the conceptual and philosophical foundations of the life sciences. We will read and discuss literature by both philosophers of biology and biologists. Many of these issues are contentious—people have argued about them for decades or centuries, and are still arguing—so we will not just be learning what others have said, but engaging with ongoing debates.

Course Objectives:

In this course you will:

• Engage with classic and contemporary debates in philosophy of biology
• Apply philosophical reasoning to conceptual debates in biology
• Draw on insights from the biological sciences to think about questions in philosophy 
• Hone your critical thinking, reasoning, and writing skills, with a particular focus on writing concisely about complex, interdisciplinary topics

Overview of Weekly Topics:

Week 1 (26/07): No Class

Week 2 (01 & 03/08): Introduction and Key Concepts in Evolutionary Biology I

Week 3 (08 & 10/08): Key Concepts in Evolutionary Biology II

Week 4 (15 & 17/08): Adaptationism

Week 5 (22 & 24/08): Selfish Genes, Altruism, and Levels of Selection I

Week 6 (29 & 31/08): Selfish Genes, Altruism, and Levels of Selection II

[MID-SEMESTER BREAK]

Week 7 (19 & 21/09): Evolution as Progress

Week 8 (26 & 28/09): Biodiversity and Conservation

Week 9 (03 & 05/10): The Nature and Origin of Life

Week 10 (10 & 12/10): Animal Cognition and Animal Minds

Week 11 (17 & 19/10): Race and Human Diversity

Week 12 (24 & 26/10): Scientific Objectivity, Values, and Biases

Course Details, Policies, and Expectations:

• We will meet weekly for two-hour lectures and one-hour tutorials. 
• You are expected to do the assigned readings each week before lecture. There is no textbook; all assigned readings will be available electronically through Canvas > Reading Lists. For further reading suggestions beyond the assigned reading on specific topics, see here.
• Assessment is based on the following assignments (there is no exam):
• 50% Weekly Mini Essays (300 words)
• 50% Final Essay(s) (2000 words for PHIL263, 2500 words for PHIL363)
• Weekly Mini Essays: Each week I will post some questions about the assigned reading on Canvas. Your weekly assignment (beginning in week 3) is to write a mini essay (maximum 300 words) answering one of the questions. Hard copies (on paper) of mini essays are due in lecture every Tuesday. Further details about these assignments (expectations and assessment) will be explained in the first weeks of class. 
• Late Policy for Mini Essays: Mini essays will not be accepted without attendance in class (in other words, they cannot be made up if you are late, sick, or otherwise absent). However, your final mark will be an average of your eight best mini essay marks of the ten assigned. This is to allow for the occasional missed class due to illness, enrolment delay, etc. without your overall mark suffering. Please see the FAQ page for further explanation.
• Late Policy for Final Essays: Final essays will be marked down 5 points (out of 100) per 24-hour period they are submitted past the deadline. For example, if you submit your final essay on 2 November at 17:30, it will be marked down 10 points. Note that 5 points (out of 100) corresponds to roughly 1/3 of a letter grade on the standard UOA marking scale. Extensions will be granted only by arrangement with the lecturer in advance of the deadline. Technical issues with Canvas will not excuse lateness. In the event of last-minute technical issues, be sure to email me your essay so that I have an electronic record of you submitting it before the deadline.
• Communication: Emails from students will be answered by the end of the following business day. Neither the lecturer nor the tutor answers emails during evenings, weekends, or holidays. Please keep this in mind and plan accordingly, especially as deadlines approach. If you have not received a reply to your email by the end of the business day after you sent it, this is because you have asked a question which is already answered on the FAQ page (see below)...

Resources:

• The FAQ page answers common questions you might have about the course, assignments, etc. Please consult this before emailing your lecturer or tutor with a question.
• Here is the Essay Marking Shorthand System we will use to give you feedback on your writing (you will also get more detailed, individualised comments on your final essays and some of your mini essays). Please refer to this as both a guide to deciphering the symbols/letters on your essays, and a source of general tips for honing your philosophical writing skills.

Further Background on Course Material:

• The Further Reading Suggestions Page, which I will continue to update over the course of the semester.
• An online Glossary of Biological Terms, which will be especially helpful for students without a background in biology navigating the readings.
• Authoritative, up-to-date entires on important philosophical topics, figures, and concepts, including many from philosophy of biology: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Both are excellent and will be helpful in further background reading for essays; the SEP entries tend to go more in-depth and the IEP entries tend to be more generally accessible.

Important Background on Writing Expectations and Tips:

Please take an hour to review all of these resources before you begin your assignments for this course—it will be well worth your time, whether or not you are new to philosophy:

• An excellent overview of how to write, read, and do philosophy: Helena De Bres's The Pink Guide to Philosophy
• More helpful guides to reading and writing philosophy: Jim Pryor's Guidelines on Reading Philosophy and Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper
• Kyle Stanford's The Seven Deadly Sins of Argumentative Writing
• Here are some broad criteria for marks (this course uses the standard UoA marking scale), and some sample A+ essays by former students.
• Last but not least: This short tutorial on Plagiarism and How to Avoid It. I take plagiarism very seriously. While you will have already done the UOA online module on academic integrity, please take five minutes to read this refresher. All students in this course will be held accountable for upholding the citation standards communicated in this tutorial in all submitted written work, and all failures to do so—all instances of representing another author's work as your own, or using another author's ideas without properly citing them—will be treated as plagiarism cases.
• Tips for successful philosophical writing, which summarise some (but not all) of the key points from the above resources. These will be discussed in the first tutorial meeting.