Advanced topics in biological anthropology, including both contemporary and ancestral human populations, such as biology of the life course, health and disease, violence and trauma, cognition and symbolic communication, and other anthropological topics viewed from the perspective of human biology.

This seminar is open to undergraduate as well as graduate students and fulfills the upper division bio requirement for anthropology majors and minors. Since Darwin’s time there have been a number of major revisions of evolutionary theory that, while not repudiating Darwin’s core insight, have often significantly modified and expanded on its basic logic. Discoveries in developmental biology and molecular genetics have contributed to re-evaluations of evolutionary theories, but so has a long-running debate over how to account for cooperative and synergistic relations. In particular, the evolution of apparently cooperative relations seems contrary to what the competitive logic of natural selection should predict. Various attempts to resolve this apparent incompatibility have addressed the evolution of eukaryotic cells, multi-celled plant and animal bodies, the complex societies of ants and bees, and the complexity of human social and symbolic relations. In this seminar we will begin by tracing this history and the current state of debate about these issues. This will serve as background for analyzing ideas presented in Prof. Deacon’s new book manuscript “Falling Up: Inverse Darwinism and Life’s Complexity Ratchet” which explores a novel evolutionary mechanism underlying the evolution of increased cooperation, functional synergy, and hierarchic complexity. Special attention will be given to understanding the atypicality of human evolution, language, and the origins of complex societies. -- Since Darwin’s time there have been a number of major revisions of evolutionary theory that, while not repudiating Darwin’s core insight, have often significantly modified and expanded on its basic logic. Discoveries in developmental biology and molecular genetics have contributed to re-evaluations of evolutionary theories, but so has a long-running debate over how to account for cooperative and synergistic relations. In particular, the evolution of apparently cooperative relations seems contrary to what the competitive logic of natural selection should predict. Various attempts to resolve this apparent incompatibility have addressed the evolution of eukaryotic cells, multi-celled plant and animal bodies, the complex societies of ants and bees, and the complexity of human social and symbolic relations. In this seminar we will begin by tracing this history and the current state of debate about these issues. This will serve as background for analyzing ideas presented in Prof. Deacon’s new book manuscript “Falling Up: Inverse Darwinism and Life’s Complexity Ratchet” which explores a novel evolutionary mechanism underlying the evolution of increased cooperation, functional synergy, and hierarchic complexity. Special attention will be given to understanding the atypicality of human evolution, language, and the origins of complex societies. In this advanced seminar (open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates with a basic background in evolutionary biology) we will briefly trace this history and then focus on the current state of debate in evolutionary biology. Special attention will be paid to recent developments often called “evodevo” and to the diverse class of approaches described as an “extended evolutionary synthesis.” This will serve as background for the analysis of ideas presented in Prof. Deacon’s new book manuscript “Falling Up: Inverse Darwinism and Life’s Complexity Ratchet” which explores a novel evolutionary mechanism accounting for the increase in hierarchic complexity from molecular biology to human social organization. Special attention will be given to its relevance for understanding the atypicality of human evolution.

Course will be meeting in AAPB 219 - Faculty Staff Lounge

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