2005-06 Series
11 October 2005
Dr. Michael Ruse, Florida State University
“The Evolution-Creation Struggle”
Michael Ruse, formerly Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph in Canada, specializes in philosophy of biology (especially Darwinism), ethics, and the history and philosophy of science. In addition to his numerous publications in these areas, Ruse served as an expert witness in the Arkansas creationism trial of 1981. Recent books include Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology (Harvard UP, 1996); Biology and The Foundation of Ethics (edited with Jane Maienschein, Cambridge UP, 1999); Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction? (Harvard UP, 1999); Can a Darwinian be a Christian? The Relationship Between Science and Religion (Cambridge UP, 2000); and Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? (Harvard UP, 2003). [From Florida State Website)
Ruse at the University of Alabama:
Michael Ruse is being sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Blount Program. Dr. Ruse is a highly regarded Darwin scholar and a fierce defender of Darwinian evolution against creationist challenges – most recently on CNN. He describes his own philosophical position as “evolutionary naturalism”. He argues first, that our inquiries should focus on those things and processes we find in the world we observe and experience; second, the way to understand the world of our experience is through scientific law in general, and evolutionary principles in particular. Much of his career has been directed to this sort of inquiry. He has, for instance, co-written a paper with E.O. Wilson that develops an evolutionary explanation of religion and ethics.
But to the surprise of many – given his own status as an unbeliever – Ruse has argued that religious belief and evolutionism are compatible, and it is therefore possible to be both a Darwinian and a Christian. He has also argued – to the anger of others – that some evolutionists have adopted evolution as a religion. Crucial to Ruse’s analysis is the claim that evolutionary theory is a science, but can also become a religion, while creationism is always and only a religion.
Dr. Michael Ruse, Florida State University
“The Evolution-Creation Struggle”
Michael Ruse, formerly Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph in Canada, specializes in philosophy of biology (especially Darwinism), ethics, and the history and philosophy of science. In addition to his numerous publications in these areas, Ruse served as an expert witness in the Arkansas creationism trial of 1981. Recent books include Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology (Harvard UP, 1996); Biology and The Foundation of Ethics (edited with Jane Maienschein, Cambridge UP, 1999); Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction? (Harvard UP, 1999); Can a Darwinian be a Christian? The Relationship Between Science and Religion (Cambridge UP, 2000); and Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? (Harvard UP, 2003). [From Florida State Website)
Ruse at the University of Alabama:
Michael Ruse is being sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Blount Program. Dr. Ruse is a highly regarded Darwin scholar and a fierce defender of Darwinian evolution against creationist challenges – most recently on CNN. He describes his own philosophical position as “evolutionary naturalism”. He argues first, that our inquiries should focus on those things and processes we find in the world we observe and experience; second, the way to understand the world of our experience is through scientific law in general, and evolutionary principles in particular. Much of his career has been directed to this sort of inquiry. He has, for instance, co-written a paper with E.O. Wilson that develops an evolutionary explanation of religion and ethics.
But to the surprise of many – given his own status as an unbeliever – Ruse has argued that religious belief and evolutionism are compatible, and it is therefore possible to be both a Darwinian and a Christian. He has also argued – to the anger of others – that some evolutionists have adopted evolution as a religion. Crucial to Ruse’s analysis is the claim that evolutionary theory is a science, but can also become a religion, while creationism is always and only a religion.
10 November 2005
Dr. Jim Lacefield, University of North Alabama
“Using Evidence from Alabama’s Geologic Record in Support of Teaching Concepts Related to Evolution and an Ancient and Dynamic Earth”
Jim Lacefield is a semi-retired, adjunct professor of biology and Earth science at the University of North Alabama. A science educator for more than 30 years, he claims first-hand knowledge of the sensitive cultural and philosophical issues related to the teaching of evolution in Alabama’s public schools based on his experience as a biology and Earth science teacher at the middle school through college levels. He has a long-term interest in the development of strategies for integrating concepts in evolution into the science classroom more effectively as well as promoting the understanding of the geological evidence documenting an ancient and dynamic Earth. Recognizing the limitations of his own academic training in the geological foundations of evolutionary theory and their empirical basis in the fossil record, he returned to the University of Alabama to undertake specialized doctoral work in the field of science education in 1990. After completing a self-designed program sanctioned by the College of Education that permitted cross-discipline subject matter concentrations in both geology and biology, he was awarded the Doctor of Education degree in 1998. As part of his doctoral work he developed the manuscript of a book designed to provide an overview of Alabama’s geological and paleontological records for the state’s teachers, students, and general public. The book, entitled Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks: A Guide to the State’s Ancient Life and Landscapes, was published by the Alabama Geological Society in the fall of 2000. It has since had two printings and been adopted for use in science classes from the eighth grade through the undergraduate college levels. Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks has been used at eight universities as a text supplement for introductory geology and biology courses, including ones in Georgia and South Carolina. In addition to this book, Lacefield has written articles on Alabama’s natural history and environment for Wild Alabama and Wild South magazines, NatureSouth—the Journal of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and other popular-level periodicals.
In his presentation Dr. Lacefield will offer a general overview of Alabama’s rich and informative geologic record, and how at least minimal knowledge of the state’s rocks and fossils can help students better understand the nature and quality of the scientific evidence that stands in support of organic evolution and the concept of an ancient and changing Earth. Using color photographs and digital graphics Dr. Lacefield will summarize the major lines of evidence from Alabama’s geological record that document the existence of deep time and provide an objective record of the evolutionary changes that have taken place in the Earth’s species and biological communities through time. Major lines of geological evidence that will be discussed in the presentation will include radiometric data, sedimentary stratigraphy, evidence of deep erosion, and the state’s exceptional fossil record. Alabama’s rocks provide teachers with a rich and readily-accessible body of observable evidence that can be used to help students better understand and accept fundamental concepts related to evolution and the Earth’s history.
Dr. Jim Lacefield, University of North Alabama
“Using Evidence from Alabama’s Geologic Record in Support of Teaching Concepts Related to Evolution and an Ancient and Dynamic Earth”
Jim Lacefield is a semi-retired, adjunct professor of biology and Earth science at the University of North Alabama. A science educator for more than 30 years, he claims first-hand knowledge of the sensitive cultural and philosophical issues related to the teaching of evolution in Alabama’s public schools based on his experience as a biology and Earth science teacher at the middle school through college levels. He has a long-term interest in the development of strategies for integrating concepts in evolution into the science classroom more effectively as well as promoting the understanding of the geological evidence documenting an ancient and dynamic Earth. Recognizing the limitations of his own academic training in the geological foundations of evolutionary theory and their empirical basis in the fossil record, he returned to the University of Alabama to undertake specialized doctoral work in the field of science education in 1990. After completing a self-designed program sanctioned by the College of Education that permitted cross-discipline subject matter concentrations in both geology and biology, he was awarded the Doctor of Education degree in 1998. As part of his doctoral work he developed the manuscript of a book designed to provide an overview of Alabama’s geological and paleontological records for the state’s teachers, students, and general public. The book, entitled Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks: A Guide to the State’s Ancient Life and Landscapes, was published by the Alabama Geological Society in the fall of 2000. It has since had two printings and been adopted for use in science classes from the eighth grade through the undergraduate college levels. Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks has been used at eight universities as a text supplement for introductory geology and biology courses, including ones in Georgia and South Carolina. In addition to this book, Lacefield has written articles on Alabama’s natural history and environment for Wild Alabama and Wild South magazines, NatureSouth—the Journal of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and other popular-level periodicals.
In his presentation Dr. Lacefield will offer a general overview of Alabama’s rich and informative geologic record, and how at least minimal knowledge of the state’s rocks and fossils can help students better understand the nature and quality of the scientific evidence that stands in support of organic evolution and the concept of an ancient and changing Earth. Using color photographs and digital graphics Dr. Lacefield will summarize the major lines of evidence from Alabama’s geological record that document the existence of deep time and provide an objective record of the evolutionary changes that have taken place in the Earth’s species and biological communities through time. Major lines of geological evidence that will be discussed in the presentation will include radiometric data, sedimentary stratigraphy, evidence of deep erosion, and the state’s exceptional fossil record. Alabama’s rocks provide teachers with a rich and readily-accessible body of observable evidence that can be used to help students better understand and accept fundamental concepts related to evolution and the Earth’s history.
19 January 2006
Dr. Patricia Kelley, University of North Carolina-Wilmington
“Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?”
Patricia Kelley is an invertebrate paleontologist with a research focus on Coastal Plain mollusc fossils. She is especially interested in the evolutionary process and the factors that control it, and she believes that the fossil record contains data essential for deciphering this process. She has served as President of the Paleontological Society and President of the Paleontological Research Institution. Her initial studies, a test of the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium, investigated tempo and mode of evolution of the Miocene mollusc fauna of Maryland. Her current interest is in the field of evolutionary paleoecology, particularly the evolution of molluscan predator-prey systems. Ongoing work tests various aspects of the hypothesis of escalation, which proposes that biological hazards such as predation have increased over the course of the Phanerozoic and that adaptation to those hazards has also increased. With Thor Hansen of Western Washington University, Dr. Kelley has been testing this hypothesis by tracing the history of naticid gastropod predator-prey interactions with a database of 150,000 molllusc specimens they have collected from the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Cretaceous through Pleistocene. She has also done work (in part in collaboration with middle school teachers and students nationwide) on naticid predation in modern coastal environments to test hypotheses about spatial variation in drilling predation and provide a modern baseline for comparison to the fossil record.
Dr. Patricia Kelley, University of North Carolina-Wilmington
“Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?”
Patricia Kelley is an invertebrate paleontologist with a research focus on Coastal Plain mollusc fossils. She is especially interested in the evolutionary process and the factors that control it, and she believes that the fossil record contains data essential for deciphering this process. She has served as President of the Paleontological Society and President of the Paleontological Research Institution. Her initial studies, a test of the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium, investigated tempo and mode of evolution of the Miocene mollusc fauna of Maryland. Her current interest is in the field of evolutionary paleoecology, particularly the evolution of molluscan predator-prey systems. Ongoing work tests various aspects of the hypothesis of escalation, which proposes that biological hazards such as predation have increased over the course of the Phanerozoic and that adaptation to those hazards has also increased. With Thor Hansen of Western Washington University, Dr. Kelley has been testing this hypothesis by tracing the history of naticid gastropod predator-prey interactions with a database of 150,000 molllusc specimens they have collected from the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Cretaceous through Pleistocene. She has also done work (in part in collaboration with middle school teachers and students nationwide) on naticid predation in modern coastal environments to test hypotheses about spatial variation in drilling predation and provide a modern baseline for comparison to the fossil record.
23 February 2006
Dr. Richard Lenski, Michigan State University
“Experimental Evolution: Bugs and Bytes”
Dr. Richard Lenski is the Hannah Professor of Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. Dr. Lenski’s main focus is experimental evolution. Although evolution is usually examined by more traditional means, including the comparative method and through fossils, he watches evolution in action in the context of carefully designed experiments. He and his colleagues perform experiments using two different, fast-evolving systems – bacteria and digital organisms. Dr. Lenski investigates the dynamics of evolution, including the genomic as well as phenotypic changes, and his work has been published in Nature and Science – the top two journals in the biological sciences. Using long-term evolution experiments with Escherichia coli, Lenski and colleagues are able to track evolutionary changes across replicate populations in the laboratory. In one experiment, bacteria have been evolving for over 30,000 generations now. The similarities and differences between the replicate populations provide insight into the repeatability of evolution as well as the idiosyncratic nature of evolutionary change. Dr. Lenski also collaborates on experiments using digital organisms – computer programs that replicate, mutate and evolve – in the Avida system developed by Chris Adami (Caltech) and Charles Ofria (MSU). They have demonstrated the evolutionary origins of complex new functions. The beauty of the approach is that the researchers can trace every one of the dozens of mutations that lead up to these complex organismal function. Other projects of interest include conflict and cooperation in social bacteria, the evolution and control of mutation rates, the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions, and the evolution of antibiotic resistance.
Dr. Richard Lenski, Michigan State University
“Experimental Evolution: Bugs and Bytes”
Dr. Richard Lenski is the Hannah Professor of Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. Dr. Lenski’s main focus is experimental evolution. Although evolution is usually examined by more traditional means, including the comparative method and through fossils, he watches evolution in action in the context of carefully designed experiments. He and his colleagues perform experiments using two different, fast-evolving systems – bacteria and digital organisms. Dr. Lenski investigates the dynamics of evolution, including the genomic as well as phenotypic changes, and his work has been published in Nature and Science – the top two journals in the biological sciences. Using long-term evolution experiments with Escherichia coli, Lenski and colleagues are able to track evolutionary changes across replicate populations in the laboratory. In one experiment, bacteria have been evolving for over 30,000 generations now. The similarities and differences between the replicate populations provide insight into the repeatability of evolution as well as the idiosyncratic nature of evolutionary change. Dr. Lenski also collaborates on experiments using digital organisms – computer programs that replicate, mutate and evolve – in the Avida system developed by Chris Adami (Caltech) and Charles Ofria (MSU). They have demonstrated the evolutionary origins of complex new functions. The beauty of the approach is that the researchers can trace every one of the dozens of mutations that lead up to these complex organismal function. Other projects of interest include conflict and cooperation in social bacteria, the evolution and control of mutation rates, the ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions, and the evolution of antibiotic resistance.
28 March 2006
Dr. Kenneth Miller, Brown University
“Devil in the Details: The Failure of ‘Intelligent Design'”
Kenneth Miller is a professor at Brown University, where he teaches Introductory Biology and Cell Biology. His research is in the area of cell biology and has focused on the relationship between structure and function in biological membranes, making heavy use of electron microscopy. His published work includes papers on the arrangement of photosynthetic proteins in plant membranes and of proteins involved in translocation of proteins through membranes. With his collaborator, Joseph Levine, he has written a series of general biology textbooks aimed at high school and college students. Dr. Miller has also been involved for several years in the ongoing conflict between creationists and evolutionary biology. On several occasions he has debated with anti-evolutionists and written articles and reviews on the topic. In 1999, he weighed in on the issue head-on with his book, Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientists’ Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution. He has forcefully defended biology, and science in general, from both misconstrued perceptions of the scientific literature and from flawed arguments against evolution. However, his identification as a Catholic believer has allowed him to go beyond defense of science to defend theology from what he perceives as an undermining of the Christian faith by the proponents of creationism and intelligent design. His talk will focus on the arguments made by the latter and why their examples of biochemical machines that exhibit “irreducible complexity” are in fact not irreducible and therefore could have evolved by the process of natural selection.
Dr. Kenneth Miller, Brown University
“Devil in the Details: The Failure of ‘Intelligent Design'”
Kenneth Miller is a professor at Brown University, where he teaches Introductory Biology and Cell Biology. His research is in the area of cell biology and has focused on the relationship between structure and function in biological membranes, making heavy use of electron microscopy. His published work includes papers on the arrangement of photosynthetic proteins in plant membranes and of proteins involved in translocation of proteins through membranes. With his collaborator, Joseph Levine, he has written a series of general biology textbooks aimed at high school and college students. Dr. Miller has also been involved for several years in the ongoing conflict between creationists and evolutionary biology. On several occasions he has debated with anti-evolutionists and written articles and reviews on the topic. In 1999, he weighed in on the issue head-on with his book, Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientists’ Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution. He has forcefully defended biology, and science in general, from both misconstrued perceptions of the scientific literature and from flawed arguments against evolution. However, his identification as a Catholic believer has allowed him to go beyond defense of science to defend theology from what he perceives as an undermining of the Christian faith by the proponents of creationism and intelligent design. His talk will focus on the arguments made by the latter and why their examples of biochemical machines that exhibit “irreducible complexity” are in fact not irreducible and therefore could have evolved by the process of natural selection.
13 April 2006
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, University of Pittsburgh
“Toward resolving almost 150 years of the Darwinism-Evo-Devo debate: the difference between the emergence and persistence of novelty.”
Jeffrey H. Schwartz is a professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He was a visiting professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of Alabama in Fall 2003. Professor Schwartz is a physical anthropologist whose research and teaching cover three major areas: (1) the exploration of method, theory, and philosophy in evolutionary biology through focusing on problems involving the origin and subsequent diversification of extinct as well as extant primates, from prosimians to humans and apes; (2) human and faunal skeletal analysis of archaeological recovered remains, particularly from historical sites of the circum-Mediterranean region; and (3) dentofacial growth and development in Homo sapiens as well as mammals in general. Schwartz has done fieldwork in the United States, England, Israel, Cyprus, and Tunisia and museum research in the mammal and vertebrate paleontology collections of major museums in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and Africa. His most recent work has involved trips to photograph collections all over the world in support of his co-edited four volume series, “The Human Fossil Record”, the most complete compendium published on human evolution. Schwartz does not hesitate to take on established concepts. As he wrote in his 2000 book “Sudden Origins”:
In the evolutionary sciences, where we are all struggling to piece together a history that can be perceived only through the fragments of fossils or the living termini of a past that is now lost, it would be foolhardy to cling unreservedly to a particular set of models and hypotheses without at least occasionally questioning their very bases.
Other recent books have also tilted at received wisdom, as in his 2005 revised and re-released “The Red Ape: Orangutans and Human Origins”. In addition Schwartz has authored books on human skeletal biology (“What the Bones Tell Us” and “Skeleton Keys”) as well as other volumes on human evolution (“Extinct Humans”). Schwartz has made the lay press in recent years for his commentary on the “Hobbit” discovery (Homo floresiensis) and work on forensically reconstructing George Washington’s physical appearance.
While at the University of Alabama, Dr. Schwartz will be hosted by the anthropology department, where he’ll discuss his recent theoretical writing in evolutionary biology that is concerned with wedding molecular and cell biology with a model of evolution that applies to both plants and animals. This work will form the basis of one of the lectures he’ll be giving while on campus. For more about Dr. Schwartz’s visit, contact Jim Bindon in the Department of Anthropology.
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, University of Pittsburgh
“Toward resolving almost 150 years of the Darwinism-Evo-Devo debate: the difference between the emergence and persistence of novelty.”
Jeffrey H. Schwartz is a professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He was a visiting professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of Alabama in Fall 2003. Professor Schwartz is a physical anthropologist whose research and teaching cover three major areas: (1) the exploration of method, theory, and philosophy in evolutionary biology through focusing on problems involving the origin and subsequent diversification of extinct as well as extant primates, from prosimians to humans and apes; (2) human and faunal skeletal analysis of archaeological recovered remains, particularly from historical sites of the circum-Mediterranean region; and (3) dentofacial growth and development in Homo sapiens as well as mammals in general. Schwartz has done fieldwork in the United States, England, Israel, Cyprus, and Tunisia and museum research in the mammal and vertebrate paleontology collections of major museums in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and Africa. His most recent work has involved trips to photograph collections all over the world in support of his co-edited four volume series, “The Human Fossil Record”, the most complete compendium published on human evolution. Schwartz does not hesitate to take on established concepts. As he wrote in his 2000 book “Sudden Origins”:
In the evolutionary sciences, where we are all struggling to piece together a history that can be perceived only through the fragments of fossils or the living termini of a past that is now lost, it would be foolhardy to cling unreservedly to a particular set of models and hypotheses without at least occasionally questioning their very bases.
Other recent books have also tilted at received wisdom, as in his 2005 revised and re-released “The Red Ape: Orangutans and Human Origins”. In addition Schwartz has authored books on human skeletal biology (“What the Bones Tell Us” and “Skeleton Keys”) as well as other volumes on human evolution (“Extinct Humans”). Schwartz has made the lay press in recent years for his commentary on the “Hobbit” discovery (Homo floresiensis) and work on forensically reconstructing George Washington’s physical appearance.
While at the University of Alabama, Dr. Schwartz will be hosted by the anthropology department, where he’ll discuss his recent theoretical writing in evolutionary biology that is concerned with wedding molecular and cell biology with a model of evolution that applies to both plants and animals. This work will form the basis of one of the lectures he’ll be giving while on campus. For more about Dr. Schwartz’s visit, contact Jim Bindon in the Department of Anthropology.