Freshly Printed - allow 10 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics
Towards a Philosophy of Biology
Authored by an eminent biologist, this thought-provoking book deals with the prevailing philosophical themes of explaining the adaptation of organisms, the interplay of chance and necessity, and the recurrent topics of emergence, reductionism, and progress
Francisco J. Ayala (Author)
9780128036938
Paperback / softback, published 19 July 2016
420 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 2.7 cm, 0.68 kg
"This splendid book,...is a distillation of a lifetime’s experience as a practicing scientist and metaphysical reflection on his own work and that of others...Above all, the book is wonderfully comprehensive." --The Quarterly Review of Biology
Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics: Towards a Philosophy of Biology focuses on the dominant biological topic of evolution. It deals with the prevailing philosophical themes of how to explain the adaptation of organisms, the interplay of chance and necessity, and the recurrent topics of emergence, reductionism, and progress. In addition, the extensively treated topic of how to explain human nature as a result of natural processes and the encompassed issues of the foundations of morality and the brain-to-mind transformation is discussed. The philosophy of biology is a rapidly expanding field, not more than half a century old at most, and to a large extent is replacing the interest in the philosophy of physics that prevailed in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Few texts available have the benefit of being written by an eminent biologist who happens to be also a philosopher, as in this work. This book is a useful resource for seminar courses and college courses on the philosophy of biology. Researchers, academics, and students in evolutionary biology, behavior, genetics, and biodiversity will also be interested in this work, as will those in human biology and issues such as ethics, religion, and the human mind, along with professional philosophers of science and those concerned with such issues as whether evolution is compatible with religion and/or where morality comes from.
Part I. Evolution Chapter 1. The Darwinian Revolution Chapter 2. Evolution Is a “Fact? Chapter 3. Life's Origin Chapter 4. LUCA and the Tree of Life Chapter 5. Three Grand Challenges of Human Biology Part II. Explanation Chapter 6. Design Without Designer Chapter 7. Adaptation and Novelty: Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology Chapter 8. Evolution and Progress Chapter 9. The Scientific Method Chapter 10. Reduction and Emergence Chapter 11. Microevolution and Macroevolution: A New Evolutionary Synthesis? Part III. Ethics, Aesthetics, and Religion Chapter 12. Ethics Chapter 13. Aesthetics Chapter 14. Religion Chapter 15. Law and the Courts Chapter 16. Intelligent Design Chapter 17. Human Evolution, Genetic Engineering, and Cloning
