Understanding Evolution in Darwin's 'Origin' (eBook)

This book aims to encourage the reading of 'On the Origin of Species' and to include it in the teaching of evolution. With a comprehensive overview of the development of Darwin's theory, the volume provides relevant aspects of Darwin's life and work in connection with the broader context of his time. The historical and philosophical analysis, mirrored in the socio-cultural scope, enables the diachronic reading of the text. It is built on various sources of historians and philosophers of science and sheds fresh light on them. Its uniqueness is the broad structure that covers four parts: the pre-Darwinian concepts of species changes; some key elements of Darwin's pursuit of the causes of evolution, from his voyage on Beagle to the publication of his groundbreaking work; chapter-by-chapter analysis of the 'Origin'; and subsequent developments in evolutionary thought. This book is of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, scholars in history, philosophy, and sociology of science and science education, as well as the general public.

Prestes graduated in Biological Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (1983). She worked in marine biology research and as a high school biology teacher, mainly in public schools. She raised her first child during the Specialization in History of Science and Epistemology at the State University of Campinas (1992) and the Master's in Environmental Science at the University of São Paulo (1997). She did her PhD at the Faculty of Education at the University of São Paulo (2003), with a sandwich Doctorate (CNPq 2002) at the Sphere-REHSEIS at the University of Paris 7 and with the birth of her second child. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology of the Institute of Biosciences of the University of São Paulo, where she coordinates the Laboratory of History of Biology and Teaching (LaHBE). She is a former president of the Brazilian Association of Philosophy and History of Biology (ABFHiB) and current editor of the Brazilian journal Filosofia e História da Biologia. Her research focuses on the generation of living beings, especially the modes of observation and experiments in the 17th and 18th centuries. Currently, she is developing studies on Darwin's and Aristotle's works.