CONS ZG541:  BIOLOGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS
1st Semester

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General Information:

Time: Th, F, S: 11:00-12:15 pm

Venue: #207, Bhaktivedanta Institute

Instructors: Prof R. N. Singh, PhD; Greg Anderson, M.S.

Course Description

After many years of behaviorism, the biological sciences now include the problem of consciousness. The first module of the course will be a primer covering basic material in bioscience including the fundamental principles of molecular biology and focusing on the molecular machinery underlying cellular functions.This module will prepare the student to read with technical competence and critically understand major scientific papers on biology and consciousness which are dealt with in subsequent modules. In the second module, material will be covered regarding animal consciousness. In the third module, the closely related problem of the nature of life will be discussed.   Students will read and present various views on the nature of life.  The fourth module will cover the evolution of consciousness.  The fifth module will focus on a scientifically acceptable version of the Gaia hypothesis.

Evaluation Components:

Evaluation Schedules:

Comprehensive Exam date: 20 Dec

Number of Classroom Hours: 45


Lecture Modules:  

The first module is a primer in molecular biology while modules II –V are based on state-of-the-art research papers and monographs.

Module I: Molecular Biology

Lecture 1-24: Mitosis, meiosis, Mendel’s law of inheritance, DNA, mutation, bacterial viruses, control of genetic expression, RNA and protein synthesis, the genetic code, genetic recombination, transposons, retroviruses, immune response, signal transduction; 17 Sept.,

18 Sept, 24 Sept, 25 Sept, 1 Oct, 2 Oct, 8 Oct, 9 Oct, 14 Oct, 15 Oct, 4 Nov, 5 Nov, 11 Nov, 12 Nov

Text: Lewin, B., 1994, Genes IV, Oxford U.P. : Oxford

Module II: Are animals, plants, insects, and microorganisms conscious?

Lecture 25: Behaviorism and avoidance of animal consciousness; Definition of perceptual consciousness vs. reflective consciousness (chapter 1, Griffin); 6 Nov

Lecture  26: Quiz on Lecture 25. Examples of Perceptual consciousness in animals (Chapter 2-5, Griffin); Examples of concepts in animals (Chapter 6 of Griffin); 13 Nov

Lecture  27: Quiz on Lecture 26. Language usuage by bees, chimpanzees and monkeys. (Chap 8, 11 of Griffin); 18 Nov

Lecture 28: Quiz on Lecture 27. Do primates have a ‘theory of mind’? (Heyes 1998) 19 Nov

Lecture 29: Quiz on Lecture 28. The controversial work on whether plants are conscious (Nagel 1997). 20 Nov

Lecture 30: Quiz on Lecture 29. Bacterial chemotaxis; claims of learning in paramecia (Koshland 1980; Wichterman 1953, 1986). Response of cells to light (Albrecht-Buehler 1995) Can intentionality be attributed  to microorganisms? 25 Nov


Module III: The Nature of Life.

Lecture 31: Quiz on Lecure 30. Is there a fuzzy distinction between living and nonliving (Lehman)? Characteristics of prions, viruses and bacteria; 26 Nov

Lecture 32: Each student will present one view of the nature of life:  vitalism, animism, mechanism, reductionism, emergentism (Sattler). Why do most biologists ignore hypotheses involving vitalism? 27 Nov

Lecture 33: Rosen’s relational biology and his analysis of the machine metaphor for life; introduction to category theory (Rosen 1991); 3 Dec

Lecture 34: Continue relational biology, ‘nonfractionability’; The Sequence Hypothesis: Where does molecular biology stand in its attempt to put the ‘sequence hypothesis’ on a firm experimental foundation? 4 Dec

Lecture 35: Quiz on Lectures 33, 34. Problems with the linear genetic paradigm for life (Strohman); 9 Dec

Lecture 36: Epigenetic inheritance; directed mutation. Do these phenomena suggest Lamarckian evolution may have occurred in the past? (Jablonka/Lamb, Chapter 1-2; Rubin); 10 Dec


Module IV (Lectures 37,38): (Quiz on Lecture 36) Evolution of Consciousness (Cairns-Smith 1996); 11 Dec


Module V (Lectures 39,40): (Quiz on Lecture 37, 38) The Gaia Hypothesis (Lenton 1998);14 Dec

Textbooks and Papers

Because the field of consciousness studies is still an emerging topic, readings will be assigned from the following monographs and papers:

Albrecht-Buehler, G., 1995. ‘Changes of cell behavior by near-infrared signals’ Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton 32: 299-304.

Cairns-Smith, A.G., 1996. Evolving the Mind : on the Nature of Matter and the Origin of Consciousness, Cambridge University Press: New York.

Dawkins, Marian Stamp, 1993. Through Our Eyes Only?: The Search for Animal Consciousness. W.H. Freeman: Oxford, etc.

Griffin, D. R. 1992. Animal Minds. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, London

Heyes, C.M. 1998. ‘Theory of mind in nonhuman primates’ Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 21:101-114.

Koshland, D.E. 1980. Chemotaxis As a Model Behavioral System. Raven Press: New York.

Jablonka, E.; Lamb, M.J., 1995, Epigenetic inheritance and evolution: the Lamarckian dimension, Oxford U.P.: New York.

Lehman, H. 1978. Biology in Transition: A Critical Inquiry, Exposition Press: Hickville, NY, pp. 1-50.

Lenton, T.M. 1998. ‘Gaia and natural selection’ Nature, 394:: 439-447.

Nagel, A., 1997. 'Are plants conscious?' Journal of Consciousness Studies 4(3): 215-230.

Rosen, R. 1991. Life Itself. A Comprehensive Inquiry into the Nature, Origin and Fabrication of Life. Columbia Univ Press: New York.

Rubin, H. 1987. Molecular biology running into a cul-de-sac? Nature Lond. 335: 121.

Rubin, H. 1990. On the nature of enduring modifications induced in cells and organisms. Am. J. Physiol. 258 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 2): L19-L24.

Rubin, H.; Farber, E.; 1991. Cellular adaptation in the origin and development of cancer. Cancer Research 51: 2751-2761.

Sattler, R. 1986. Biophilosophy: analytic and holistic perspectives. Springer-Verlag: Berlin, etc.

Strohman, R. C. 1993. Ancient genomes, wise bodies, unhealthy people: limits of a genetic paradigm in biology and medicine. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 37 (Autumn): 112-145.

Strohman, R. C.; Wolf, S.; The organizing power of experience. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 38 (Autumn): 106-113.

Wichterman, R. 1953, 1986. The Biology of Paramecium,  Plenum Press: New York, p. 237-238.

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