Stephen Jay Gould, "What does the dreaded 'E' word mean anyway? A Reverie for the Opening of the New Hayden Planetarium" and:

• Michael Pollan, "Playing God in the Garden"
• Frans de Waal, "Selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master"

For more assignment ideas involving this essay, please visit the Gould link-o-mat.

On Science versus Common Sense

In his essay "What Does the Dreaded ‘E' Word Mean, Anyway," Stephen Jay Gould explores the changing connotations of the term "evolution." Gould spends much of the essay contrasting the differing ideas of evolution developed by the natural sciences and the physical sciences, in particular astronomy. He is also concerned, however, with the way that the idea of evolution has taken root in the common-sense of non-scientists. For your first paper, please write an essay that responds to the following question:

What, in your view, is the appropriate relation between scientific knowledge and common sense–the attitudes and beliefs of ordinary non-specialists?

As you develop your response, you may wish to consider some of the following questions if they prove helpful to you. Please do not try to answer them all.

What is "common sense"? Is it the same thing as reason, logic, or "good sense"? Is common sense sometimes the same as "prejudice"? Are some commonsensical ideas actually irrational or superstitious? Using Gould's essay as a guide, please identify some of the factors that have shaped our common-sense ideas about subjects like the natural world, the place of humans in the scheme of things, and the importance of technological and social progress. How does science differ from common sense? Is science always "right" when it conflicts with common sense? Can common sense ever be "right" when "science" is wrong? Can science ever be "wrong"? How does your thinking confirm, complicate, or contradict Gould's?

An essay like this one requires you to do two things at once. First, you need to make a point of your own, instead of simply summarizing the argument presented by the author. Second, you should draw on Gould's essay for ideas and examples that will support to the point or points you are making. Please try to make detailed and careful use of the information that Gould provides you. Use his thinking to stimulate yours.

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Putting Science in Context sequence.

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Gould and Pollan: Biotechnology and the Evolutionary Process

In "What does the dreaded ‘E' word mean, anyway?" Stephen Jay Gould provides an extended discussion of what the word "evolution" means in the life sciences. In "Playing God in the Garden," Michael Pollan discusses genetic engineering and the invention of the NewLeaf potato. For this essay, I would like you to consider the relationship between genetic engineering and evolution as Gould defines it. Does genetic engineering disrupt the evolutionary process Gould describes? Does it participate in that evolutionary process? Does Gould's argument suggest that we should be concerned about genetic engineering or that there is nothing to worry about? That is, does the definition of evolution used in the life sciences put to rest the concerns Pollan has raised about genetic engineering or does it heighten those concerns? Write an essay where you consider the relationship between evolution and genetic engineering.

Richard E. Miller, Spring 2000

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Gould and Pollan: GE: We Bring Good Things to Life?

In “What Does the Dreaded ‘E' Word Mean , Anyway?” Stephen Jay Gould discusses his interpretation of the evolutionary machine. Says Gould, “humans are not the end result of predictable evolutionary progress, but rather a fortuitous cosmic afterthought, a tiny little twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life, which if replanted from seed, would almost surely not grow this twig again” (322-323).

How does Gould's view of evolution complicate your view of biotechnology? Does it? Explain why or why not, citing evidence from Pollan and Gould to support your argument.

Lara Tupper, Fall 2005

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Gould and de Waal: Evolution and Humankind's Place in the Cosmos

In "What does the dreaded 'E' would mean anyway?" Stephen Jay Gould offers two competing definitions of evolution. Can either of Gould's definitions accommodate de Waal's vision of the evolutionary process? In the end, does it matter how one thinks about the evolutionary process? Is there a necessary connection between how one thinks about evolution and how one understands humankind's place in the cosmos?

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