Purple and blue DNA helix against a black background.

Before and After DNA: Theories of Life

Cost
465.00

This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Open Enrollment curriculum.

Most of us learn in high-school biology that life is some combination of growth, reproduction, and animation, and that it always contains DNA. Yet for many this definition is unsatisfying. This course explores some of the philosophical implications of modern biology by reading some of the best twentieth-century thinkers on the subject. The authors we read have distinct theories about the nature of life, but they share the belief that understanding organic life, not simply spiritual or intellectual life, but the material basis of existence, is a fundamental task for thought. What makes these texts so exciting is that they were written during a time when biology itself was undergoing a series of profound revolutions, most notably (for us), the molecular turn and the discovery of the structure of DNA. As a result of these discoveries, ultimately some thinkers came to wonder, does life exist at all?

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Required text: Erwin Schrödinger What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches (Canto Classics) ISBN-10: ‎1107683653

Notes

Online Registration closes December 29 at 5:00 pm CT.