Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description
Genes and Generation
Instructor(s): Bernard Possidente, Biology
Aristotle argued that females contribute the "raw material" for an offspring and males
contribute a force that shapes it into an organism. Beginning with this ancient Greek
account of generation, students study explanations of the generation of organisms
from historical and scientific perspectives. We compare Aristotle's concept of generation
to later scientific theories typical of the 17th to 19th centuries, including spontaneous
generation, vitalism, epigenesis and the idea that germ cells contain a tiny version
of the organism that develops into the adult. We follow the demise of some of these
theories and the transformation of others into the modern concepts of genes and developmental
biology, and end with a discussion of current perspectives on the role of genes in
the development of organisms.
Course Offered