Adam Gopnik, author of Angels & Ages, A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln and Modern Life and Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate and many other works, will discuss a fundamental question: How far can Darwin take us as a guide to why we are the way we are?
Both outspoken appreciators of Darwin, Adam Gopnik and Steven Pinker will compare their visions—perhaps complementary, perhaps contrasting—of what Darwin’s legacy is on the two hundredth anniversary of his birth.
February 12 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, certainly the most important biologist in history and one of the great figures in science. Darwin, of course, spent his life developing the theory of evolution by natural selection, which has become the foundation for the understanding of biology. In the 1960’s evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky said that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution," and that’s a statement with which few biologists would argue.
To honour Darwin’s birthday, we’re devoting our program to a discussion of the life and work of Charles Darwin, and to a discussion of his impact on modern science, with three special guests.
November 30 2007 - Keith Stanovich talks about the implications of universal darwinism.
200 years ago Charles Darwin was born. 50 years later, after many adventures, Darwin published a little book, ‘On The Origin of Species’. This little book went on to have an influence well beyond its author’s lifetime. In recent years, Darwin has been brought into a fierce debate between religion and science. In this talk at the University of Sydney’s regular Sydney Ideas programme, Professor Michael Ruse gives personal, philosophical and scientific reasons for why Darwin’s theories have endured and should endure well into the future.
Professor Michael Ruse is a world-leading expert on the social and philosophical consequences of Darwin’s theories. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of the History and Philosophy of Science Program at Florida State University. In 1981 he was called up as a witness for the plaintiff of the State law in the case of the Arkansas school system teaching "creation science". He has written more than 20 books on Darwin and his influence, including Darwinism and its Discontents (2006), The Evolution-Creation Struggle (2005) and Darwin and Design: Does evolution have a purpose? (2003). He is also the founder of the journal Biology and Philosophy.
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