Objectives and Contextualisation

The concept of evolution by natural selection of Charles Darwin is one of the most revolutionary ideas of Western thought.

GLOBAL OBJECTIVES:

a) To raise a vital concern for evolution as a conceptual framework of explanation capable of providing a synthetic view of nature, and of exerting a decisive influence on the understanding of oneself, and one's position in the future of our planet.

b) To provide a solid and integrated knowledge of the core of modern evolutionary theory and its most relevant implications - anthropological, sociological, philosophical. To appreciate how this knowledge comes about and continues to expand through the creativity, the rigorous scientific method, and the cooperation among researchers, within the cultural and social context of each moment.

c) To face the uncertainty associated with change and the multiple perspectives of knowledge and reality.

d) Promotion of intellectual autonomy and personal creative independence in the search and acquisition of knowledge.

e) To transfer theoretical approaches to concrete situations, demonstrating the applicability of evolutionary theory (e.g. in health sciences, agriculture and conservation), and the positive impact that a citizen with a solid knowledge of this subject can have in society.

 

TRAINING OBJECTIVES:

a) Development of syntactic-semantic competences for the transmission of evolutionary ideas with rigor, avoiding teleologism of language. Evolution is a contingent historical process, without purpose or direction.

b) Acquisition of a perspective of all the biological disciplines articulated in a coherent conceptual framework of the evolution of life on Earth.

c) Knowledge of the history and social relations of evolutionary thought, including the most recent discussions about the need to review the New Synthesis. The theory of biological evolution is usually identified only with the figure of Charles Darwin.

d) Knowledge of the main empirical evidence on which modern evolutionary theory is based. Biological evolution is such a solid scientific theory that in practice it can be considered as a fact.

e) Knowledge of the main theories about the origin of life, the nature of the last common ancestor and the history of its diversification (extinction) in the present forms of life, emphasizing the great evolutionary transitions, in connection with the dynamics of the planet. The purpose of evolutionary biology is to interpret phenomena that cannot be understood without knowing the past.

f) Understanding of basic concepts and methodological approaches (based on tacit premises, based on explicit models) for the inference of evolutionary relationships (genealogies, phylogenies) between organisms at different taxonomic levels (populations, species, higher order categories), and its dating (molecular clocks), from characters of diverse nature (genetic sequences, molecular markers, physiological or anatomical properties).

g) Understanding of the method of evolutionary analysis. In a broad sense, evolution is descent with modification. Related organisms tend to have similar biological properties. Through the evolutionary approach, it is possible to predict the biology of an organism by comparison with related organisms.

h) Understanding the genetic basis of evolution (structural variants vs. regulatory variants) and the connections between evolution and development.

i) Understanding of the causes and mechanisms of the evolutionary process in its two dimensions: Anagenesis and cladogenesis, integrating the classical approaches to the study of evolution with modern techniques of genetic analysis (genetic sequences, molecular markers, genetic manipulation) and bioinformatics (analysis comparative of sequences).

j) Understanding of human nature and diversity, and the connections and interrelationships of our species in the evolutionary scheme of life on Earth.

 

k) Understanding of evolutionary biology not as a discipline of exclusively formal interest, but as fundamental knowledge with practical implications in multiple areas. The rapid advance of evolutionary biology has triggered the development of powerful technologies for health monitoring, law enforcement, agriculture, ecology, and the treatment of all kinds of design and optimization problems.

 

Skills

• To analyse and interpret the origin, evolution, diversity and behaviour of living beings.
• To understand the processes that determine the functioning of living beings in each of their levels of organization.
• To understand the biological characteristics of human nature.
• To develop independent learning strategies.
• To develop a critical thinking and reasoning. To communicate them effectively.
• To develop a historical vision of biology.
• Respect towards the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
• To be able to analyse and synthesize.
• Capacity for organization and planning.

 

 

Learning outcomes

1. Combine historical thinking with scientific thinking.

2. Develop autonomous learning strategies.

3. Develop a critical thinking and reasoning.

4. State in a clear way the difference between patterns and process in evolution.

5. Explain the conflicts that are generated between the different levels of biological organization.

6. Explain the importance of models in biology.

7. Explain the old dichotomy between nature and environment.

8. Explain what makes us different from the rest of the species and why.

9. Identify and enunciate the problems associated with the answer to the big question: how did life on our planet emerge and evolve?

10. Identify fallacies in non-evolutionist discourses.

11. Interpret phylogenetic reconstruction.

12. Justify the importance of phylogenetic relationships in data analysis.

13. Justify the relative importance of contingent and functional aspects in the history of life.

14. Justify why biology is an autonomous science.

15. Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.

16. Summarize the historical development of evolutionary theories.

17. Summarize evolutionary thinking and integrate the different levels of biological organization under a coherent perspective.

18. Be able to analyze and synthesize.

19. Have the capacity for organization and planning.