The Metaphysics of Evolution

Trained as a scientist in the early days of Darwinism, Whittaker was fascinated by the interaction of science and metaphysics.

Thomas Whittaker (Author)

9781108004374, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 September 2009

496 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm, 0.63 kg

What conclusions do the facts of cosmic and organic evolution require or permit on the origin and destiny of the world and the individual? From 1881 to 1925 Thomas Whittaker, an Oxford-trained scientist turned philosopher, grappled with this question, which he tried to answer by metaphysical interpretation of the sciences. The majority of the essays in this volume first appeared in Mind, and a few in other journals, while three had not been previously published. Whittaker ranges widely over some of the most daring theories of the past, from the early centuries of the common era (including Apollonius of Tyana and Origen), to the middle ages (including John Scotus Erigena and Nicholas of Cusa), the renaissance (Giordano Bruno, Shakespeare) and the early modern period. Whittaker's own view is that hypothesis and imagination are legitimate aids in the search for truth in both science and philosophy in a new synthesis.

Prologue
Part I
Preface to the first part
1. A critical essay on the philosophy of history
2. 'Mind-stuff' from the historical point of view
3. Giordano Bruno
4. The musical and the picturesque elements in poetry
5. On the nature of thought
6. Philosophical antinomies
7. Giordano Bruno and his time
8. The problem of causality
9. Science and idealism
10. Correspondence
Part II
Preface to the second part
11. Apollonius of Tyana
12. Celsus and Origen
13. Origen as philosopher
14. John Scotus Erigena
15. Nicholas of Cusa
16. Animism, religion and philosophy
17. A compendious classification of the sciences
18. Teleology and the individual
19. A new metaphysic of evolution
Appendix.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]