Minds & Bodies 08-- Syllabus

HR101: Minds and Bodies

Profs. Harriott and Epstein

Spring Semester 2008

Syllabus

(Subject to revision)

PART I: MINDS IN BODIES

Monday 1/14: Our Bodies, Our Selves

Introductions: Genes and identities.

Thursday 1/17: Genes and the Foundations of Life: Introduction to Genetics (Harriott)

Read assignment:

Baker, C. 2004. BEHAVIORAL GENETICS: An introduction to how genes and environments interact through development to shape differences in mood, personality, and intelligence. AAAS. Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2.
(Note: scroll down to bottom of page to find links to chapter.)

[Monday 1/21: No class—Martin Luther King Day]

Thursday 1/24: Genes and the Foundations of Life: Nature vs. Nurture (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Baker, BEHAVIORAL GENETICS, Chapter 3
De Waal, F. 1999. The end of nature versus nurture. Sci. Am. 281:94-99.

[3:00—MLK Convocation]

Monday 1/28: Genes and the Foundations of Life: Behaviors: Mental Disorders, Controlling Impulses (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Baker, BEHAVIORAL GENETICS, Chapters 4-6.

Student-led discussion 1: Vlad & Caroline/ Angelica & John

Thursday 1/31: Genes and the Foundations of Life: Genetic Identity

Reading assignment:

Anne Cambon-Thomsen, The social and ethical issues of post-genomic human biobanks.
DNA Forensics, from the Human Genome Project
Simoncelli, T. Dangerous excursions: the case against expanding forensic DNA databases to innocent persons. (Click here, and input keywords: simoncelli dangerous excursions)

On Campus Cable, watch Gattaca (106 minutes). It will be shown on Channel 107 on both Tuesday 1/29 and Wednesday 1/30, starting at 12:00 AM and repeating every two hours.

Student-led discussion 2: Nazar & Russell/ Steve & Rachel

Monday 2/4: The Mind-Body Problem (Epstein)

Reading assignment:

René Descartes, Meditations Concerning First Philosophy, Parts I and II. (In Electronic Reserves, key in the password "yorick" and click on "First Meditation: Concerning things that can be doubted.")
Paul Churchland, “Dualism,” from Matter and Consciousness (In Electronic Reserves, key in the password "yorick" and click on "The Ontological problem.")
Daniel C. Dennett, “Why Dualism Is Forlorn” (In Electronic Reserves, key in the password "yorick" and click on "Explaining Consciousness.")

Thursday 2/7: The Idea of the Self (Epstein)

Reading assignment:

Hamlet, Acts 1-3
Géza Kállay, "'To be or not to be' and 'Cogito, ergo sum': Thinking and Being in Shakespeare's Hamlet against a Cartesian Background"

On Campus Cable, watch Hamlet, directed by Michael Almereyda (113 minutes). [Times to be announced.]

Student-led discussion 3: Sarah & Ashton/ Meredith & Brianna

Monday 2/11: The Idea of the Self (Epstein)

Reading assignment: Hamlet, Acts 4-5

Thursday 2/14: Minds, Bodies, and Brains (Epstein)

Reading assignment:

Daniel C. Dennett, “Where Am I?”
Oliver Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” “The Disembodied Lady,” and “A Matter of Identity”
Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Student-led discussion 4: Christina K. & Andrew C./ Magarita & Kate

PART II: SEX & GENDER

Tuesday 2/19 [Monday classes meet]: The Biology of Sex (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Daniel Federman, The Biology of Human Sex Differences
Larry Cahill, His Brain, Her Brain
Elizabeth Spelke, Sex Differences in Instrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science?: A Critical Review
The Science of Gender and Science: Pinker vs. Spelke: A Debate

Thursday 2/21: Biology of Sex (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Gender Testing of Female Athletes.
Genel, Myron, Gender Verification No More?

Student-led discussion 5: Russell & John/ Patrick & Matt

Monday 2/25: Stem Cell Biology (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Fischbach, G. & R. Fischbach. 2004. Stem cells: science, policy, and ethics. J. Clin. Inv. 114:1364-1370
Steinbrook, R. 2006. Egg Donation and Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research

Watch the video clip (15 minutes) available at this site: Nova ScienceNOW: Stem cells

First Essay Due.

Thursday 2/28: The Body Sexed (Epstein)

Reading assignment:

Ladelle McWhorter, “Natural Bodies: Or, Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Deviants” (In Electronic Reserves, key in the password "yorick" and click on "Natural Bodies.")
Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex, Chapter 1(In Electronic Reserves, key in the password "yorick" and click on "Of language and the flesh")
William Shakespeare, Sonnets 3, 18, 20, 116, 126, 127, 129, 130, 147

Student-led discussion 6: Sarah & Heather/ Hailey & Christina S.

[SPRING BREAK]

Monday 3/10: The Story of Gender (Epstein)

In The Classic Fairy Tales, read:

“The Story of the Grandmother” (10-11)
Charles Perrault, “Little Red Riding Hood” (11-13)
Brothers Grimm, "Little Red Cap" (13-16)
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the Beast” (32-42)
Giovanni Straparola, “The Pig King” (42-47)
Brothers Grimm, “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (47-50)
Angela Carter, "The Tiger's Bride" (50-66)
“The Swan Maiden” (72-73)

Also read Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves."

And on Campus cable, watch The Company of Wolves, directed by Neil Jordan (1 hour, 35 minutes). It will be shown on Channel 107 on both Saturday 3/8 and Sunday 3/9, starting at 12:00 AM and repeating every two hours, with the last show starting 10:00 PM Sunday.

Thursday 3/13: The Gender of Stories (Epstein)

In The Classic Fairy Tales, read:

Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (80-83)
Brothers Grimm, “Snow White” (83-89)
Charles Perrault, “Donkeyskin” (109-116)
Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella” (117-122)
Charles Perrault, "Bluebeard" (144-148)
Brothers Grimm, "Fitcher's Bird" (148-151)
Margaret Atwood, "Bluebeard's Egg" (156-178)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother” (291-297)

Also read Charles Perrault's "Cinderella."

Student-led discussion 7: Caroline & Vlad/ Andrew B. & Ryan

Thursday evening, 8:00 PM, Quick Center: Attend lecture by Jean Cadet, founder of the Restavec Foundation.

Monday 3/17: Gender & literature: Jane Eyre (Epstein)

In the Bedford edition of Jane Eyre, read Volumes 1 and 2 (pages 17-293).

[Easter Break]

Thursday 3/27: Gender & literature: Jane Eyre (Epstein)

In the Bedford edition of Jane Eyre, read

Volume 3 (pages 293-441)
"What Is Feminist Criticism?" (pages 459-467)
Sandra Gilbert, “Plain Jane’s Progress” (pages 475-501)

Student-led discussion 8: Matt & Heather/ Ashton & Meg

PART III: RACE, INTELLIGENCE, AND THE HUMAN

Monday 3/31: Race: Myth and Reality (Harriott)

On Campus Cable, watch Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episodes 1 and 2 (2 hrs.) It will be shown on Channel 106 on both Saturday 3/29 and Sunday 3/30, at 12:00 AM, 4:00 AM, 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 4:00 PM, and 8:00 PM.

Thursday 4/3: History and Biology of Race and Intelligence (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Baker, Chapter 7: How is intellect molded by genes and environment?
Allen, G. 1986. Charles Davenport and the eugenics movement

Student-led discussion 9: Angelica & Steve/ Rachel & Christina K.

Monday 4/7: History and Biology of Race and Intelligence (Harriott)

Reading assignment:

Sternberg et al., 2005. Intelligence, race and genetics
Harmon, A. 2007. In DNA era, new worries about prejudice.
Malcolm Gladwell, None of the Above: What IQ Doesn't Tell You About Race, New Yorker 12.17.07
Richard E. Nisbett, All Brains Are the Same Color, New York Times 12.9.07

Second Essay Due.

Thursday 4/10: Constructing Race (Epstein)

Read at least through Act 3 of Shakespeare's Othello.

Also watch Othello, directed by Trevor Nunn, on Campus Cable. It will be shown on both Tuesday 4/8 and Wednesday 4/9 on Channel 107 at the following times:

12:00 AM: Part I/ 1:45 AM: Part II/ 4:00 AM: Part I/ 5:45 AM: Part II/ 8:00 AM: Part I/ 9:45 AM: Part II/ 12:00 PM: Part I/ 1:45 PM: Part II/ 4:00 PM: Part I/ 5:45 PM: Part II/ 8:00 PM: Part I/ 9:45 PM: Part II

Student-led discussion 10: Meredith & Meg/ Patrick & Christina S.

Monday 4/14: Constructing Race (Epstein)

Finish reading Shakespeare's Othello.

Thursday 4/17: Constructing Race (Epstein)

Continued discussion of Shakespeare's Othello.

Monday 4/21: Constructing Race and Gender (Epstein)

On Campus Cable, watch Puccini's Madame Butterfly. It will be shown on Channel 107 from April 13 through April 17 at 12:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, and 9:00 PM.

Read David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly.

Student-led discussion 11: Brianna & Andrew B./ Ryan & Kate

Thursday 4/24: Freedom and Imprisonment

Attend talk & reading by Marc Falkoff, editor of Poems from Guantanamo.

Reading assignment: Michel Foucault, selections from Discipline and Punish.

Thursday 4/24 at 7:00 PM in the Library Multimedia Room: Talk by Marc Falkoff, "Guantánamo: Notes from Behind the Wire,"

Monday 4/28: Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence (Harriott & Epstein)

Reading assignment:

Botsrom, N. 2005. A History of transhumanist thought.
John Searle, "Can Computers Think?"
Daniel Dennett, "Imagining a Conscious Robot," in Electronic Reserves (Password: "yorick". Select file entitled, "Consciousness Imagined."

Student-led discussion 12: Nazar & Magarita/ Hailey & Andrew C.

Third Essay Due.

Monday 5/5, 9:00 AM: Final Class Presentations