Synopsis

US Customers Only. Part one this BBC portrait of Charles Darwin focuses on his early life and influences tracing his maturation as a naturalist from his birth in Shrewsbury, England to the publication of his key work the Origin of Species. To provide a contextual base for Darwin’s revolutionary ideas, the program examines his key influences including Thomas Malthus and Robert Edmund Grant as well as his life changing experience as the ship naturalist on the HMS Beagle. Featuring Darwin Biographers Janet Browne, James Moore, and Adrian Desmond as well as noted scholar Robert M. Young, the program will provide students with the personal and historic background key to understanding the work and life of Darwin. Part two of this BBC portrait of Charles Darwin focuses on the legacy of his theories on evolution and the implications of his writings. Using Natural Selection as a starting point, the program explores the often contentious implications of Darwin’s work including: Eugenics, Group Selection, Sociobiology, Evolutionary Psychology and Coevolution. While Darwin’s theories are central to these ideas, they each provide a basis of discourse on the far-reaching implications of what evolutionary thought can teach us about human nature. Featuring scholars Richard Dawkins (Oxford University), Adrian Desmond (University College, London), Robert Trivers (Rutgers Univerity), Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University), Stuart Kauffman (Santa Fe Institute), and others, the program provides an academic primer for discussions on the implications of Darwin’s still controversial work.

Educational Reviews

"...a fascinating, thought-provoking treatment of how Darwin’s theory is altering the very idea of human nature." *** Recommended Video Librarian

Back to Index