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Browse materialsMIT 21L.448J · Fall 2003

Darwin and Design

Subjects: History · Science

Art: Gustave Doré, Gustave Doré, Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“, 1866.…, 1866 · Public domain

Instructor: Prof. Alvin Kibel
Term: Fall 2003
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 1 reading · 12 other files · 3 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

Other versions of this course

21L.448J · Fall 2010 · Study here
21L.448J · Fall 2003 · Study here (this version)

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Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 21L.448J Darwin and Design, Fall 2003, Prof. Alvin Kibel — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

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MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Alvin Kibel, 21L.448J Darwin and Design, Fall 2003.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2003 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Darwin and Design

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Readings

Assignments

Lecture 1: Introduction: Selections from Genesis.

Lecture 2: Aristotle. Selections from Physics.

Lecture 3: Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Lecture 4: Voltaire. Candide .

Lecture 5: Hume. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. (Through Book V in the Excerpts.)

Lecture 6: Hume. Dialogues. (continued)

Lecture 7: Paley. Natural Theology.

Lecture 8: Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations. (selections)

Lecture 9: Malthus. Principles of Population.

Lecture 10: Malthus. (continued)

Lecture 11: Darwin. On the Origin of Species. (Excerpts from Signet Edition.)

Lecture 12: Darwin. On the Origin of Species. (continued)

Lecture 13: Darwin. On the Origin of Species. (continued)

Lecture 14: Butler, Samuel. Erewhon.

Lecture 15: Butler, Samuel. Erewhon. (continued)

Lecture 16: Butler, Samuel. Erewhon. (continued) Darwin. Excerpt from The Descent of Man.

Lecture 17: Stevenson. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Lecture 18: Stevenson. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (continued)

Lecture 19: Huxley, Thomas. Prolegomena to Evolution and Ethics.

Lecture 20: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine .

Lecture 21: Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr Moreau.

Lecture 22: Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr Moreau . (continued)

Lecture 23: Forster, E. M. The Machine Stops.

Lecture 24: Turing, Alan, John Searle, and Daniel Dennett. Essays on computers.

Lecture 25: Gould, Stephen Jay, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett. Essays on Natural Selection.

Lecture 26: Review and Summation