CIE100: Common Intellectual Experience - Darwin Writing Prompt (10 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:

1. To reflect upon the course texts in preparation for thoughtful discussion
2. To organize thoughts into a concise and cohesive response to a targeted question
3. To consider multiple viewpoints about ideas

The Assignment

In this writing prompt, you will consider the questions below and respond by writing a short dialogue between yourself and a figure from, or behind, the text, equivalent in substance to a 1-2 paragraph response (script formatting means this will usually run a bit longer on the page, and that is fine). Quote the text at least once within the exchange, and give the other voice a genuine counterargument, supported by a quote of its own, rather than an easy target. Submit your dialogue through Canvas before the start of class.

UDL choice: this genre is the default for this reading, but you may swap in any of the five response genres (analytic, letter, dialogue, marginalia+aphorism, or the Four A’s) as long as the quote and counterargument requirements are met.

Struggling with the reading itself? See the guide: How to Read Hard Texts in CIE.

Writing Prompt

1. How does Darwin’s argument for natural selection depend on small differences accumulating across vast stretches of time? Identify a passage where Darwin’s careful, almost cautious rhetoric shows that he understands the stakes of his claim, and discuss what he seems most concerned to persuade his readers of.

2. Where do you see descent with modification operating outside biology: in languages, in memes, in technologies, in traditions? Choose one concrete example and trace its variation, selection, and inheritance. Where does the evolutionary analogy illuminate, and where might it mislead, especially when people apply it to human societies?

Submission

Submit a word processed or PDF document.

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.