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Evolution - HIS00068H

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  • Department: History
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Chris Renwick
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module summary

Evolution is an idea that has helped define the modern world. Indeed, as recent controversies, such as those about intelligent design, have shown, an acceptance of evolution is frequently seen as the final test of what it is to be truly modern. However, the idea of evolution was widely considered to be highly implausible as little as 50 years before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859). How and why did evolution come to be accepted so rapidly and incorporated so fully into the way we look at the world? This special subject gives students – who will require no previous knowledge of evolutionary science – the opportunity to think about these questions by exploring the history of evolutionary ideas in Britain, from their late eighteenth-century origins to modern debates about religion, human nature, and eugenics. By studying primary texts and secondary literature closely, students will explore the way that evolutionists made the case for their theories, how their ideas were discussed in scientific and popular culture, and consider the impact those ideas had on the way we understand ourselves and society. In so doing, students will not only learn how to study closely the processes through which individual ideas and theories emerge but also develop an expert knowledge of the interaction of evolutionary ideas and society in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, as well as an understanding of significant points of comparison in Europe and America.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23 to Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

  • To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
  • To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
  • To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

  • Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
  • Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
  • Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
  • Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
  • Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Teaching Programme:

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 of the autumn term. Students prepare for and participate in fifteen three-hour seminars. These take place in weeks 2-5 and 7-9 of the autumn term and weeks 2-5 and 7-10 of the spring term. Both the autumn and spring terms include a reading week for final year students and so there will be no teaching in week 6. There will also be a two hour revision session in the summer term. One-to-one meetings will also be held to discuss the assessed essay.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

  1. Erasmus Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

  2. Natural Theology, Political Economy, and Society in Early c.19th Britain

  3. Radical Politics and Science: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

  4. The Origin of the Origin of Species: Darwin in Edinburgh, London, and on the Beagle

  5. Darwin’s Delay?

  6. Grandeur in this View of Life: On the Origin of Species

  7. Evolutionary Radical? Darwin on Man

  8. The Reception of the Origin

  9. The Eclipse of Darwinism?

  10. Social Darwinism

  11. Francis Galton and the Origins of Eugenics

  12. Evolution and Race in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain

  13. Eugenics, Darwinism, and Gender

  14. Reform Eugenics and the Environment

  15. Comparative Perspectives: the USA and Germany

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,000 word essay		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Evolution		 8 hours 50

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to do two practice gobbets and then are required to write a 2,000-word procedural essay relating to the themes and issues of the module in either the autumn or spring term.

For summative assessment, students complete a 4,000-word essay which utilises an analysis of primary source materials to explore a theme or topic relating to the module, due in week 5 of the summer term.

They then take a 24-hour online examination for summative assessment in the summer term assessment period comprising: one essay question relating to themes and issues, but showing an awareness of the pertinent sources that underpin these AND one ‘gobbet’ question (where students attempt two gobbets from a slate of eight).

The essay and exam are weighted equally at 50% each.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,000 word essay		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Evolution		 8 hours 50

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.

Work will be returned to students in their discussion groups and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their procedural work with their tutor (or module convenor) during student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

Bowler, Peter. Evolution: The History of an Idea. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

Diane B. Paul, Controlling Human Heredity (1998)

Hodge, Jonathan, and Gregory Radick, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Darwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.