Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalis 1862-1864

Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1862—1864, thrusts students into the intellectual ferment of Victorian England just after publication of The Origin of Species.

Part of the “Reacting to the Past” series, this text consists of a game in which students experience firsthand the tension between natural and teleological views of the world--manifested especially in reconsideration of the design argument commonly known through William Paley’s Natural Theology or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802).

Note: Reacting to the Past has been developed under the auspices of Barnard College. It won the Theodore Hesburgh Award (2004), funded by the TIAA-CREF, for pedagogical innovation, and it has also received substantial support from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education. With this support, Barnard College hosts a series of conferences throughout the nation at which interested faculty and administrators learn about “Reacting” by playing miniversions of the games.

Marsha Driscoll is Associate Professor of Psychology at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, MN. Her scholarly interests include the nature and role of cognitive and affective empathy, adult development, and the interdisciplinary connections of psychology to the other social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.

Elizabeth E. Dunn is Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Bemidji State University. Her primary field of study is American Intellectual History, with research and publications centered on value conflicts in a variety of settings including Benjamin Franklin’s religious beliefs, paper money in colonial America, and political campaigning in the nineteenth century.

Dann P. Siems is Adjunct Professor of Integrative Studies at Bemidji State University. His scholarly interests include the role of cognition and behavior in life history evolution, the interplay of science and religion, and the history and philosophy of biology.

B. Kamran Swanson is an Instructor of Philosophy at Oakton Community College and Harold Washington College in the Chicago area. His studies have focused on the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza and early modern philosophies of science.