Amazon.com
One of the best descriptions of the nature and implications of Darwinian evolution ever written, it is firmly based in biological information and appropriately extrapolated to possible applications to engineering and cultural evolution. Dennett's analyses of the objections to evolutionary theory are unsurpassed. Extremely lucid, wonderfully written, and scientifically and philosophically impeccable. Highest Recommendation!
Book Description
In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, whom Chet Raymo of The Boston Globe calls "one of the most provocative thinkers on the planet," focuses his unerringly logical mind on the theory of natural selection, showing how Darwin's great idea transforms and illuminates our traditional view of humanity's place in the universe. Dennett vividly describes the theory itself and then extends Darwin's vision with impeccable arguments to their often surprising conclusions, challenging the views of some of the most famous scientists of our day.
Customer Reviews:
Complex and Entertaining.......2007-07-09
While Dennett comes off, at times, sounding pompous and headstrong, that may simply be because he is, in my opinion, correct about certain aspects of the human mind's ability to cope with conflicting beliefs. My personal religious beliefs aside, I do feel that, at a point, religion and evolutionary science do come into direct conflict. Some of Dennett's thoughts and ideas, in conjunction with Dawkins's ideas, can run a little wayward of what I would call science, but simply because the ideas are blended with speculation and opinion. For further reading on the evolutionary perspective of religious thought, I would recommend Scott Atran and Pascal Boyer. Again, I really enjoyed the book, my personal disagreements notwithstanding.
like good medicine.......2007-07-08
This is not an easy read. It's rocky, at times pedantic, somewhat oblique, and about as picky as a book on logic. Dennett has difficulty keeping the reader engaged in his point, as his examples tend to be somewhat obscure at times, and his verbosity often masks the clarity of his vision. I sometimes had to turn back to the beginning of the chapter to remind myself what he was trying to say. Luckily, he seems to understand this, and provides summary statements after each chapter -- good thing, because without these navigational aids, he can be difficult to follow.
However, what Dennett has achieved here will stand the test of time because it is USEFUL. He is able to look at all the objections to the theory of evolution by natural selection and take them apart logically, scientifically, and heuristically. These objections are not limited to the religious variety, but also include scientific backlashes to Darwin like those of Gould, Chomsky, and Kaufmann. In other words, if you want to understand the breadth and depth of Darwin's theory, this is a masterwork.
What it lacks is, unfortunately, what the back cover promises: a look at Darwinism in the light of ethics, morality, and culture. Sure, Dennett devotes a (delicious) chapter to the topic, invoking Nietzsche and Hobbes, and there are scattered sections in the book that are like mind candy for the intellectually thirsty reader. It's a good thing those brilliant sections are scattered randomly throughout the book, because they may be the only thing that keeps the general reader interested.
Unless you're a biologist or anthropologist, you may want to read something shorter and more to the point. This book is for scholars who want exactitude. And to those scholars, I say read this book as quickly as possible, because it's VERY hard to come back to after putting down for a week or so.
Unintelligent design explained.......2007-06-02
This book is a philosophical work rather than straight science, the author does an excellent job of looking at all the various species of darwinian theories and their mutations, from scientific,to pop culture to philosophical,and subjecting them to a harsh environment of critical thought and logic, so selecting out the fittest for survival at the end of the book.I may be a bit biased as I have come to the same conclusions as the author,that there is only one true version of natural selection that works with no god or intelligent design, nor any adaption via senses, or experience of any organism, it is pure random mutation followed by the environment killing off what is not the best,strongest or most efficient. It is certainly not the sort of touchy-feely stuff some people seem to seek to explain things, its cold and harsh,cruel and unforgiving, although the author keeps it less harsh that my own view of it, and rightly states in a way,that just because it is harsh,doesnt change the reality of how we feel it and percieve it, love is still love no matter its mechanical, survival,or other basis. If you feel that describing something like life or love in a cold hard scientific way will change your view of it ,ruin it for you, if you are that open to suggestion, dont read this book. If you want a great philosophical arguement to open your mind and cut through the B.S. and sugar coating,if you think in a scientific way, and yes it can be quite a harsh and cold look at things, then this book is an excellent read. The author has done an enormous amount of research and distilled it into one volume, and some of the arguements or view points will be unknown to most people,and quite useless in a way, but seeing so many view points is always good for anyone who likes to think deeply and be challenged. I didnt learn alot from this book that I hadnt already figured out for myself using common sense,yet really enjoyed it for its excellent arguements and insights, its enjoyable for the philosophical side even if you have no interest in the subject matter. Also highly recommended is the authors book on consciousness, although its fairly hard going as the concepts are alot harder to grasp than evolutions mechanisms.
Entertaining materialist philosophy.......2007-05-02
It is hard to imagine that a 600 plus page book on materialist philosophy could be entertaining and a fairly quick read, but it is. The tone is too dogmatic, and there is way too much space devoted to quibbling, but it is rare to find a book this informative and thought provoking.
Intellectually Stimulating.......2007-03-31
Darwin's Dangerous Idea is one of Daniel Dennett's more notable works, being a 1995 national book award finalist (as advertised on the cover). I'm not really sure why it didn't win though, because had I been on the panel of judges, I would probably have chosen it over the competition (whatever they were). The book thoroughly explains Darwin's theory of evolution with regard to biology (including its finer philosophical and technical details) and extends the theory even further to just about everything, including the universe itself. The basic premise being that complexity arises out of simplicity and this is precisely what it would take for anything in the known universe to be in existence today.
Dennett sees no contradiction for example, in how humans behave by explaining that memes (cultural elements) that influence our behaviours and which seem to have a far greater effect than genes on our future evolution are themselves merely products of genetic evolution. Think of it as many smaller cranes (tiny steps in evolution that build upon one another) building a better, bigger crane (i.e. humans capable of storing, producing and transmitting memes). As a philosopher, the man has a vast knowledge of science, biology and computer science, in particular. He is extremely well-read and explains his ideas with such lucidity, you'll be amazed at how he can actually get you to understand very complex ideas and examples.
I sometimes found myself unable to follow certain topics but every time, Dennett grabbed my hand and lifted me back into my seat of understanding with his natural flare of wanting more than anything, not to obfuscate in any way the message he is trying to get across. If only all educators were like that. He presents many examples and references from diverse fields in science and literature (e.g. Borge's Library of Babel) that will amaze and get you thinking. Dennett also critiques work by other scientists such as Stephen J. Gould and Noam Chomsky where relevant, to name just two. I learned a lot about science in general, not to mention artificial intelligence, architecture, philosophy and literature by reading this book.
The last chapter is very nice closure to his whole thesis. Despite being an atheist, Dennett does not see religion as completely evil and acknowledges the role it played (as a result of cultural evolution) that in some ways have benefitted mankind; not "spiritually" but at least in terms of comfort and artistic inspiration. At 586 pages, it is an extremely satisfying read. I'm eager to dig into his latest book, "Breaking the Spell" and one of his earlier works, "The Mind's, I" soon.
Average customer rating:
- An Absolute Classic from a Great Thinker
- Stimulating Reading
- A physicist's essay on a topic he cannot know as a scientist, only as a human being
- A Classic
- It's all there, before the elucidation of DNA via x-rays
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What Is Life?: with "Mind and Matter" and "Autobiographical Sketches"
Erwin Schrodinger
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ASIN: 0521427088 |
Book Description
Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger’s What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist’s exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman, but proved one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of the structure of DNA. The philosopher Karl Popper hailed it as a â€~beautiful and important book’ by â€~a great man to whom I owe a personal debt for many exciting discussions’. It appears here together with Mind and Matter, his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times. Schrodinger asks what place consciousness occupies in the evolution of life, and what part the state of development of the human mind plays in moral questions. Brought together with these two classics are Schrödinger’s autobiographical sketches, published and translated here for the first time. They offer a fascinating fragmentary account of his life as a background to his scientific writings, making this volume a valuable additon to the shelves of scientist and layman alike.
Customer Reviews:
An Absolute Classic from a Great Thinker .......2007-08-03
In "What is Life?" monograph, Schrodinger brilliantly enlightens us with the true concept of life science. He proposes what himself calls "a naive physicist's ideas about organisms." Years before the discovery of double helix structure of DNA, Schrodinger beautifully details how the huge volume of information is related to the structure of what he calls "aperiodic crystal" (what we currently call it "protein structure."
The ideas are still fresh and everybody who really wants to start the REAL and TRUE molecular biology must read this classic. It is astonishing to see how this great thinker and physicist had elaborated, very correctly and properly, to use the statistical tools in physics (statistical physics) to explain the fundamentals of life.
It is an absolute classic from a great legend. Please read and enjoy it.
Stimulating Reading.......2006-10-15
Schroedinger, one of the great physicists of the 20th Century, applied the knowledge he gained in his own discipline to analyze human life. Based upon lectures that he gave in the 1940s, this brief book contains Schroedinger's fascinating speculations on the nature of life, several of which have proven prophetic (including the discovery of DNA). The reader comes away with the joy of having shared in the workings of a great mind.
Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the book is that it can be readily understood by persons relatively untrained in science or mathematics.
A physicist's essay on a topic he cannot know as a scientist, only as a human being.......2004-12-19
I'm wondering why scientists are allowed to give their opinion as scientists about topics they know nothing about as scientists. The beginning of the title ("What is Life") sounds like if Schrodinger can claim anything about the difference between mind and matter as a pure consequence of physics. Too bad, as the rest of the title might make you think that there will be some discussion about why and whether there might be a difference between mind and matter. What remains of mind when you stick to the physics? That would be a very nice question to think about, if only this was the topic of the book...but it's not what is done here.
A Classic.......2004-03-08
What is Life? is an absolute classic. Schrodinger felt that life must be explainable by physics and chemistry, yet seemed to violate the normal behavior of entropy-- and he understood further that this was a remarkable wedge point to explore. He figured out the explanation: life is the result of evolution of genetic information, which selects for complex processes that by ordinary considerations would be very unlikely. He predicted that there must be a molecule capable of carrying the genetic information (incorrectly thinking it would be a protein.) His beautifully-written book was influential and timely. Within 4 years, Von Neumann elucidated the mechanisms involved in self-reproducing automata (illustrating his abstract discussion with a picture looking remarkably like DNA to the eyes of readers today); and within a decade, Watson and Crick grasped the structure of DNA. You should not read Schrodinger's book today as one of your first sources to understand life-- there has been remarkable progress in the 50 years since Watson and Crick-- but you should read it to gain appreciation for how science can be advanced when the time is ready and a wedge point, an apparent conflict between fundamental ideas, is analyzed.
The volume also includes another lecture by Schrodinger, Mind and Matter, which is historically interesting in another way. In Schrodinger's day, the state of understanding had not advanced to the point where it was possible to make as useful conjectures about the structure of mind as of life, and he accordingly felt "[mind] may well be beyond human understanding."
Readers interested in Schrodinger's book will also enjoy What is Thought?, published 2004. What is Thought? argues that mind must be explainable by computer science, that the fundamental issues are computational, and that there is again a wedge point: the question of how the workings of a computer, which are always purely syntactical, can correspond to meaning and understanding. The situation is parallel to the one that faced Schrodinger with respect to life in two respects: first, mind is the outcome of evolution, which has built thought processes that seem inconsistent with our standard science, and second, scientific research has advanced to the point where, if we focus on the wedge point, significant understanding is obtainable. What is Thought? brings to bear on the problem of mind core ideas from computational learning theory, complexity theory, and evolutionary computing, as well as molecular and evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and other areas. The result is a principled and concrete explanation, consistent with the vast array of available data, of how meaning, understanding, language, consciousness, and all the various aspects of mind arise from execution of an evolved computer program.
It's all there, before the elucidation of DNA via x-rays.......2003-11-21
This beautiful little book was based on a sequence of popular lectures given in Dublin during WWII, and in turn on an earlier paper given in Vienna. In the book Schrödinger coins the idea of a genetic code carried by linear molecules with his phrase 'code-script'. He asks how, in the absence of validity of a large n limit required by statistical physics for the validity of any macroscopic biological laws, can the chromsome molecules that carry the code-script yield stable genetic rules. Then, he gives the answer: chemical bonding as predicted by quantum theory ala Heitler-London (Schrödinger identifies quantum jumps in the chrosomes as the origin of mutations, which are also discrete). He refers to the chromosome fibers as linear 'aperiodic crystals' (to emphase their stability in the face of thermal fluctuations) and encourages physicists to study them: he boldly asserts that both the instructions and mechanism for generating organisms via molecular replication are contained in the chromosome molecules (and there is where the "complexity" lies). This book encouraged physicists to study problems of complexity long before the term complexity had become the catchword that it is today. Indeed, our first ideas of 'complexity' were developed parallel in the same era by Turing and von Neumann.
Schrödinger is buried in Alpbach (Tirol), where he lectured and enjoyed the Alps frequently after WWII in a school organized by one of two brothers who, according to a very well-informed source, formed nearly the only Resistance in Austria during the war. On his grave is a pretty little plaque bearing the Schrödinger equation.
This review refers to the 1969 edition of 'What is Life'.
Book Description
Human Nature After Darwin is an original investigation of the implications of Darwinism for our understanding of ourselves and our situation. It casts new light on current Darwinian controversies, and in doing so provides an introduction to philosophical reasoning and a range of philosophical problems. Janet Radcliffe Richards claims that many current battles about Darwinism, in particular about evolutionary psychology and religion, are based on mistaken assumptions about the implications of the rival views. Her analysis of these implications provides a much-needed guide to the fundamentals of Darwinism and the so-called Darwin-wars, as well as providing a set of philosophical techniques relevant to wide areas of moral and political debate. It also raises philosophical problems of knowledge and certainly, free will and responsibility, altruism, the status of ethics, and the relevance of Darwinism to questions of ethics, politics and religion. The lucid presentation makes the book an ideal introduction to both philosophy and Darwinism, as well as a substantive contribution to topics of intense current controversy. It will be of interest to students of philosophy, science and the social sciences, and critical thinking.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent introduction.......2005-08-02
This book is an excellent introduction to current Darwinian thinking about human nature. As the book discusses the implications of accepting Darwinism it does not put forward an awovedly materialist view backed by arguments, but the author's stance on this issue is nevertheless unequivocal.
The style is admirably clear, and the general claim that in most cases, the often supposed differences between non-Darwinian and Darwinian lines of thinking are only apparent ones is convincing.
However, there are some passages which I disagree with.
1. The distinction between the formal validity of conditionals and the existence of a causal or explanatory relation between the antecedent and the consequent is blurred. Radcliffe writes:
"finding out the truth of the conditional is not a matter of finding out whether the antecedent is true... or whether the the consequent is true. Even if you proved conclusively that either of those was true or false, you would still have no evidence at all for the truth of the conditional... In fact, even if you proved both antecedent and consequent true, or both false, or the consequent true and the antecedent false, that would still have no bearing on the truth of the conditional. In all these cases, the conditional could be either true or false...
This is because a conditional is a statement which is not about the truth of any individual proposition, but a particular connection between the two."(p. 92)
For someone trained in formal logic this should seem puzzling. Formally, the truth table of the conditional does determine when it is false, namely when the antecedent is true and the consequent is false. It may be debated whether this extensional truth table really captures the meaning of natural language conditional statements (many say it gives absurd results in some important cases), but it cannot be denied that it goes some way to achieve that. To consider conditionals as expressing a connection between the two contained propositions is to treat them intensionally, i. e. in a way in which their truth does not depend on their constituent propositions. This distinction is an important one, and it should have been indicated clearly in the text.
2. The discussion of the Divine Command view of ethics is simplistic in one respect. Radcliffe says if you think that the problem of Evil needs to be answered, you cannot consistently accept the Divine Command View, as it considers goodness as dependent on the will of God, moreover, it says that whatever God willed must be good. Thus if God willed that suffering be present in the world, this must be a good thing, too.
I think this line of argument would reduce the DC view to absurdity, and Radcliffe unjustly mocks it by saying "[if the DCV were true]we could just say 'War is a good thing after all'."
Of course, one could obviously point out in defence of the DCV that you need not forego it in order to see a real problem in the existence of Evil. One could deny that God willed the suffering (maybe other people did, or Satan in the case of natural disasters) and hold on to the DCV, and/or work out a theodicy in which all sufferings are eventually justified by some greater good, so one can keep the DCV consistently again.
3. There is another argument in the chapter that I disagree with and which I consider the weakest one of the book. It is about the inconsistency of moral relativism. R. says that relativism in its familiar formulations is incoherent, because "it specifies that no principle should be given precedence over others, but in doing so it gives itself precedence; it says that you should not impose your principles on others, but in doing so attempts to impose itself on the holders of other views, and displace theirs."
I have two objections:
a) relativism as a practical guide may be incoherent, but people often act incoherently, as witnessed by the problem of the weakness of will. In itself, there is nothing problematic with that: if all values are subjective, then perhaps there is no other possible way for us to think and act.
b) In addition to the pratical level, there is the meta-level of justification where moral relativism may well win the day. This issue is independent of whether relativism as a practical view is incoherent or not. Furthermore, I find R.'s claim that we can conduct a 'secular moral enquiry' to discover moral truth by using our reason entirely unconvincing. The proposed means, intuitive reasoning, can only work provided there is something objective to be ascertained. However, R. does not in the least argue that there must be objective moral truths: it is one thing to claim that the existence of objective moral standards does not presuppose the existence of God (I agree on this point), and another to substantiate the claim that there are objective moral standards in the first place. Of course, we could see this argument as one working out an implication of Darwinism (i. e. as arguing for the possibilty of a Darwinist ethics) and not as one for such a substantive claim. But in the light of everthing else R. says about morality, especially in the last chapter where she claims that there ARE some real differences between accepting the Darwininan and the non-Darwinian view (plus materialism), (notably concerning survival of death and the prearranged moral order of the universe), what she had said about objective moral truth beforehand does seem very curious. She concludes the first-mentioned chapter by saying 'there is no reason to think that if materialism is true we must be unable to reason morally'. Well, that may be so, but provided that moral reasoning is done by reflective persons, it may easily lead to its own demise, too, or at least we cannot exclude this possibility a priori.
In my view, if you accept the Darwininan view, the only available choice is moral nihilism, or perhaps a version of an "error theory" of morality.
Despite the above critical remarks, in my overall assessment this is a superb book which everyone interested in evolutionary thinking should read. I hope I have not misrepresented the author's arguments in my criticism of them. I would appreciate if you shared your comments with me.
extremely disappointed in Janet Radcliffe Richards.......2004-05-14
I am a huge fan of Radcliffe Richards book "The Skeptical Feminist" which is an excellent presentation of logical arguments for feminism.
So I was extremely disappointed that Radcliffe Richards has joined the forces of Darwinian reductionism and evolutionary psychology. She claims she is simply presenting non-partisan logical arguments for Darwinian theories for our sober consideration, but her own biases come through fairly often - and she thanks a leading proponent of evolutionary psychology, Helena Cronin, in the front of the book.
Cronin wrote a paper "The Evolved Family" (available online) and in this paper she argues (based not on empirical evidence but rather on 'Darwinian logic') that since women as a group have evolved to value men almost exclusively for their income; and to prefer to spend time with their children to spending time at work, there should be a two-tiered system of employment - one for men and one for women - an official mommy track:
"Rather than taking male standards as the universal measure, or expecting both sexes to adopt androgynous working 'roles', the government should design family-friendly employment practices that reflect the different preferences of women and men."
She does not differentiate between mothers and childless women when discussing feminine preferences, so you can't tell if the Cronin plan calls for all women to be pushed into the mommy track, or just all fertile women or just women with children. And she doesn't bother to suggest a system in which a woman might plead for a special dispensation to join the male work force - perhaps the Queen could grant titles of 'honorary male.'
And it's striking how Radcliffe Richards chides those opposed to Darwinian reductionism for emotion-ridden criticisms of her side, when Cronin never mentions feminists without expressing biting contempt.
I can't believe Radcliffe Richards would countenance this radical right-wing social philosopher. Perhaps she became more conservative over the years. Feminism has lost a valuable friend.
Socrates on evolutionary ethics.......2002-05-25
If you have any interest in the ethical or political implications of evolutionary theory, read this book.
If you ever wished you could spend a week with Socrates, discussing a topic of contemporary interest, read this book.
If you have ever, are now, or intend in the future to write or talk about about evolutionary ethics, and you have not read this book, please quit wasting my time!
Overlooked.......2002-01-15
The publishers seem to have misunderstood (or at any rate, underrated) this superb book, which would profit from exposure to a wider audience. It's as if someone in a suit smelled a whiff of the lamp around here and exiled it to the ghetto of academic writing. This is a pity, but it is perhaps in part understandable. The nominal topic is "evolution," but the real subject is the activity of clear thinking. More directly -- no one excels Janet Radcliffe Richards in demonstrating how to use the tools of philosophy in the analysis or understanding of every day problems. There is an audience for this sort of thing. The publisher seems not to have found it and both auther and audience (saying nothing of the publisher) are the losers.
Book Description
This comprehensive, historically organized introduction to philosophy communicates the richness of the discipline and provides the student with a working knowledge of the development of Western philosophy. New co-author James Fieser has brought this classic text up-to-date both chronologically and stylistically while preserving the thoughtful, conceptual characteristics that have made it so successful. The text covers all periods of philosophy, lists philosophers alphabetically and chronologically on the end-papers, and features an exceptional glossary of key concepts.
Customer Reviews:
level headed reading.......2006-09-13
This is a very even handed over view treatment of western philosophy from ancient times right on up to modern times. A great deal of the pertinent subjects in philosophy are covered by many of the main thinkers through the ages. This is probably about as good as it gets in a one volume history of philosophy book. It's a bit "thick" at times, but this should be expected from the nature of the subject. It should be noted that this work does not include eastern philosophy. Some other decent one volume works are: A Short History of Philosophy, by Kathleen Higgins ( includes some eastern philosophy ); Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul. Be sure not to miss this last one by Sproul. It's concise and makes some solid philosphical/theological points worth knowing. When it comes to learning about philosophy, one needs to be aware of both "spins" on philosophy- liberal and conservative, secular and religious. These types of works are good places to start serious philosophical exploration.
A refreshingly readable survey of the history of western philosophy.......2006-03-18
Stumpf's text is widely used in Introduction to Philosophy courses, a fact in no doubt due to the book's brevity and clarity. Teaching philosophy is a tricky business. It is easy to make ideas that ought to be exhilarating into dreadfully boring subjects but, on the other hand, a good philosophy teacher can take some dry and boring philosophical idea and breathe life into it so that it becomes interesting to anyone, even the casual reader. Stumpf is this latter type. He excels at clearly communicating the fundamental ideas of the major thinkers in the history of western philosophy, but more important is the efficiency with which he does it. Overview philosophy texts can often fall into one of two traps: either they bog themselves down so much with the various philosophers' canons of thought that the book becomes too bloated for the average student, or for the sake of being concise they boil down those canons until what remains are only bare bones structures of the philosophers' bodies of thought. Stumpf avoids both extremes, and when the economy with which he writes is paired with his keen understanding of philosophy, the result is an extremely effective philosophy text that comes in at a fighting weight of about 500 pages.
My only criticism of Stumpf would be his choice of philosophers to include. I am not all that concerned with August Comte, for example, and in my mind the inclusion of Reid or Paley would have better represented the Enlightenment debates on epistemology. But each philosopher has a different band of thinkers that he thinks is more important than others, and I guess it's inevitable that I as a Christian would want any philosophy text to include those two. Setting that gripe in the ditch for a moment, I would heartily recommend Socrates to Sartre to anyone interested in western philosophy.
A Fine Survey of Western Philosophical Thought.......2003-12-10
This book, now in its seventh edition, is one of the better histories of western philosophical thought and development. In this edition, Fieser takes the reins, building upon the work of the late Samuel Stumpf, respected philosopher at Vanderbilt. This is a book that is comprehensive, yet fairly accessible as well. The beginner to philosophy might have difficulty with sections dealing with the more elaborate thinkers like Hegel or even Heidegger, but on balance, I think even a beginner will be able to get a great deal out of this book.
Through careful study of this book, the reader will begin to see how western society has been thoroughly shaped by the philosophies described here. While philosophy is regularly dismissed as irrelevant theorizing that has no bearing on the real world (a criticism that is not altogether invalid), what can be seen from reading this book is that ideas matter, and they have consequences that thoroughly shape the 'real world'.
Stumpf/Feiser begin with the pre-Socratic philosophers, and then devote considerable time to analyzing Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is Plato and Aristotle that Western thought owes its inheritance, and this can be seen in the treatment of Augustine and Aquinas and the outworkings of their philosophies/theological approaches and necessities.
Modernist philosophy gets a hard look in this book as well, starting with Descartes and moving up through Kant. Existentialism, both Christian and atheist, are examined through Kierkegaard and Sartre/Camus, and the book also devotes a decent amount of attention to Nietzche and analytic philosophy, the forebears of postmodernism.
In each case, the analyses in this book are solid, and while the treatment is certainly not exhaustive, many of the major ideas of the philosophers mentioned are handled quite well and in mostly understandable and accessible ways.
I will register only 2 minor complaints. The book's citationing approach is not good at all. The book regularly quotes from the works of the philosophers in question, but does not have formal citations. This is very fixable and should be fixed in the next edition, there's no reason why the citations shouldn't be in here. Secondly, postmodernism itself is still not dealt with as comprehensively as it should be. While Rorty's thought is discussed, Foucault, Derrida, and others are not and they should be in order to present an adequate picture of contemporary philosophy. In addition, the work of Plantinga also deserves mention but is excluded.
But overall, this is a fine survey - more advanced than Grenz's survey 'Primer on Postmodernism' (which I would recommend for those wanting a survey treatment on Derrida and Foucault), but still accessible for most anyone interested in a substantive treatment of Western philosophy.
Book Description
Does life (for the living) differ from that of the non-living? If so, how? And how, in that case, does biology as the study of living things differ from other sciences? These questions are examined through an exploration of episodes in the history of biology and philosophy.
Book Description
This new collection of essays will appeal to a readership that extends well beyond the frontiers of the philosophy of science. Sober shows how ideas in evolutionary biology bear in significant ways on traditional problems in philosophy of mind and language, epistemology, and metaphysics. Among the topics addressed are psychological egoism, solipsism, and the interpretation of belief and utterance, empiricism, Ockham's razor, causality, essentialism, and scientific laws.
Book Description
This work provides a unified theory that addresses the important problem of the origin and maintenance of genetic variation in natural populations. With modern molecular techniques, variation is found in all species, sometimes at astonishingly high levels. Yet, despite these observations, the forces that maintain variation within and between species have been difficult subjects of study. Because they act very weakly and operate over vast time scales, scientists must rely on indirect inferences and speculative mathematical models. However, despite these obstacles, many advances have been made. The author's research in molecular genetics, evolution, and bio-mathematics has enabled him to draw on this work, and present a coherent and valuable view of the field. The book is divided into three parts. The first consists of three chapters on protein evolution, DNA evolution, and molecular mechanisms. This section reviews the experimental observations on genetic variation. The second part gives a unified treatment of the mathematical theory of selection in a fluctuating environment. The final two chapters combine the earlier assessments in a treatment of the scientific status of two competing theories for the maintenance of genetic variation. Steeped in the enormous advances population genetics has made over the past 25 years, this book has proven highly popular among human geneticists, biologists, evolutionary theorists, and bio-mathematicians.
Book Description
Aristotle’s biological works - constituting over 25% of his surviving corpus and for centuries largely unstudied by philosophically oriented scholars - have been the subject of an increasing amount of attention of late. This collection brings together some of the best work that has been done in this area, with the aim of exhibiting the contribution that close study of these treatises can make to the understanding of Aristotle’s philosophy. The book is divided into four parts, each with an introduction which places its essays in relation to each other and to the wider issues of the book as a whole. The first part is an overview of the relationship of Aristotle’s biology to his philosophy; the other three each concentrate on a set of issues central to Aristotelian study - definition and demonstration; teleology and necessity in nature; and metaph themes such as the unity of matter and form and the nature of substance.
Customer Reviews:
Among the best philosophical studies on Aristotle I've read .......2006-03-20
The four causes, form, teleology... these are familiar concepts any student of Aristotle would know, but how many I wonder know their biological roots? Here a group of experts in Aristotle spend over 400 pp. exploring, analyzing, and discussing the relationship between Aristotle's philosophy of science (in the broadest sense) on the one hand, and his biological treatises (which constitute over 25% of the Aristotelian corpus) on the other: do they belong to the same corpus or are they significantly different works? How systematic Aristotle really is? Is there any connection between his biological and philosophical enterprise and our own scientific endeavor in the modern era?
These and other questions are answered thorought the book by a panel of experts that reads like a "who is who" of Aristotelian philosophy. Some essays are so good that they are, in my opinion, among the best pieces of philosophical work I'd read in years (personally enlighting was Furth's "Aristotle's biological universe: an overview").
More importantly, many of the questions Aristotle asked in his biological works are still with us even today. Although our worldview and his differ in many significant ways, any student of philosophy and history of science, as well as anyone interested to know for that matter, would benefit from studying Aristotle's answers... and on this "Philosophical issues in Aristotle's biology" is, in spite of its years, a most welcome help. Highly recommended.
Book Description
A biographical, historical, and philosophical study of the impact of Darwinism on the intellectual climate of the nineteenth century, challenging the conventional view of Darwin's greatness. A thorough and masterly book. --Times Literary Supplement
Customer Reviews:
Darwin Undone.......2003-05-15
This is an excellent book written by a brilliant author. It details the line of progenitors leading up to Darwin's theory as well as the historical milieu in which Darwin swam during his lifetime and some of the forces, social and otherwise, that influenced him prior to Origin of Species and beyond. Himmelfarb gives an insightful criticism of Darwin's theory working simply from the internal organization of Darwin's thoughts. Himmelfarb is so brilliant in her analysis that my only criticism of the book is that she didn't critcize the theory in a more detailed fashion.
But it is a very readable and accessible book, and one that clearly points out some of the failings of Darwinian theory, many of which have been picked up by other critics over the years. However, I suspect that for the more sophisticated critic of Darwin, this book lacks sufficient scientific evidence--though it remains a fine history of the person, his theory, and its reception at the time of publication.
At Long Last!.......1999-12-24
All of the books I have ever read about Darwin either extoll him a a perfect, God-like creature, or vilify him as a demon. This book provides a comprehensive view of Darwin as he was, that is, as he saw himself and as others saw him. I was surprised to read that Darwin had many predecessors in the development of his theory, and that the flaws of the theory (which are significant) were generally recognized long before the challenges of modern science pointed them out. If you want your fancies about Darwin tickled, read others. If you want the facts, read Himmelfarb. I strongly recommend this book.
Book Description
This book offers an examination of functional explanation as it is used in biology and the social sciences, and focuses on the kinds of philosophical presuppositions that such explanations carry with them. McLaughlin gives a critical review of the debate on functional explanation in the philosophy of science that has occurred over the past fifty years. He discusses the history of the philosophical question of teleology, and provides a comprehensive review of the postwar literature on functional explanation. The book provides a sophisticated and detailed Aristotelian analysis of our concept of natural functions, and offers a positive contribution to the ongoing debate on the topic.
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This book offers an examination of functional explanation as it is used in biology and the social sciences, and focuses on the kinds of philosophical presuppositions that such explanations carry with them. It tackles such questions as: Why are some things explained functionally while others are not? What do the functional explanations tell us about how these objects are conceptualized? What do we commit ourselves to when we give and take functional explanations in the life sciences and the social sciences? McLaughlin gives a critical review of the debate on functional explanation in the philosophy of science that has occurred over the last fifty years. He discusses the history of the philosophical question of teleology, and provides a comprehensive review of the post-war literature on functional explanation. What Functions Explain provides a sophisticated and detailed Aristotelian analysis of our concept of natural functions, and offers a positive contribution to the ongoing debate on the topic.
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- Eel Capture Culture Processing and Marketing Fn9 Fnb
- End Times Fiction A Biblical Consideration Of The Left Behind Theology
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