Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340864
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
"Lively and fascinating. . . . [Gould] writes beautifully about science and the wonders of nature."—Tracy Kidder Over a century after Darwin published the Origin of Species, Darwinian theory is in a "vibrantly healthy state," writes Stephen Jay Gould, its most engaging and illuminating exponent. Exploring the "peculiar and mysterious particulars of nature," Gould introduces the reader to some of the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology.

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340864
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
"Lively and fascinating. . . . [Gould] writes beautifully about science and the wonders of nature."—Tracy Kidder Over a century after Darwin published the Origin of Species, Darwinian theory is in a "vibrantly healthy state," writes Stephen Jay Gould, its most engaging and illuminating exponent. Exploring the "peculiar and mysterious particulars of nature," Gould introduces the reader to some of the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology.

A Devil's Chaplain

A Devil's Chaplain PDF Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618485390
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The first collection of essays from renowned scientist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins is an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the power of rigorous scientific examination to reveal the wonders of the world. In these essays Dawkins revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named and wrote about in his groundbreaking work The Selfish Gene. Here also are moving tributes to friends and colleagues, including a eulogy for novelist Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; correspondence with the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould; and visits with the famed paleoanthropologists Richard and Maeve Leakey at their African wildlife preserve. The collection ends with a vivid note to Dawkins's ten-year-old daughter, reminding her to remain curious, to ask questions, and to live the examined life.

Biological Emergences

Biological Emergences PDF Author: Robert G. B. Reid
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262264420
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
A critique of selectionism and the proposal of an alternate theory of emergent evolution that is causally sufficient for evolutionary biology. Natural selection is commonly interpreted as the fundamental mechanism of evolution. Questions about how selection theory can claim to be the all-sufficient explanation of evolution often go unanswered by today's neo-Darwinists, perhaps for fear that any criticism of the evolutionary paradigm will encourage creationists and proponents of intelligent design. In Biological Emergences, Robert Reid argues that natural selection is not the cause of evolution. He writes that the causes of variations, which he refers to as natural experiments, are independent of natural selection; indeed, he suggests, natural selection may get in the way of evolution. Reid proposes an alternative theory to explain how emergent novelties are generated and under what conditions they can overcome the resistance of natural selection. He suggests that what causes innovative variation causes evolution, and that these phenomena are environmental as well as organismal. After an extended critique of selectionism, Reid constructs an emergence theory of evolution, first examining the evidence in three causal arenas of emergent evolution: symbiosis/association, evolutionary physiology/behavior, and developmental evolution. Based on this evidence of causation, he proposes some working hypotheses, examining mechanisms and processes common to all three arenas, and arrives at a theoretical framework that accounts for generative mechanisms and emergent qualities. Without selectionism, Reid argues, evolutionary innovation can more easily be integrated into a general thesis. Finally, Reid proposes a biological synthesis of rapid emergent evolutionary phases and the prolonged, dynamically stable, non-evolutionary phases imposed by natural selection.

The Web of Science, Version 3.1

The Web of Science, Version 3.1 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arts & humanities citation index
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
Training guide for databases: Science citation index expanded, Social science citation index, and Arts & humanities citation index.

New Directions in Ecological Physiology

New Directions in Ecological Physiology PDF Author: Martin E. Feder
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521349383
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
This 1988 book outlines conceptual approaches to the study of physiological adaptation in animals.

Lu Xun and Evolution

Lu Xun and Evolution PDF Author: James Reeve Pusey
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791436479
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Lu Xun (1881-1936), China's greatest modern writer, remains important today both as an official icon and a patron saint of dissent. This book deals with Lu Xun's struggle to make sense of the "Darwinian Revolution." It illuminates not only Lu Xun's thought, but also the current crisis in Chinese thought caused by the loss of faith in Marxism.

Primate Sexuality

Primate Sexuality PDF Author: Alan F. Dixson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199544646
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 808

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Book Description
Primate Sexuality provides a synthesis of current research on the evolution and physiological control of sexual behaviour in the primates - prosimians, monkeys, apes, and human beings. This new edition has been updated and greatly expanded throughout to incorporate a decade of new research findings.

The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar

The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar PDF Author: Ian Roberts
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191643688
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists.

The Future of Reason, Science and Faith

The Future of Reason, Science and Faith PDF Author: J. Andrew Kirk
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351889095
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Focusing on the history of ideas, this book explores important questions concerning knowledge in relation to philosophy, science, ethics and Christian faith. Kirk contributes to the current debate about the intellectual basis and integrity of Western culture, exploring controversial issues concerning the notions of modernity and post-modernity. Repositioning the Christian faith as a valid dialogue partner with contemporary secular movements in philosophy and ethics, Kirk seeks to show that in 'post-Christian' Europe the Christian faith still possesses intellectual resources worthy to be reckoned with. This book's principal argument is that contemporary Western society faces a cultural crisis. It explores what appears to be an historical enigma, namely the question of why Western intellectual endeavours in philosophy and science seem to have abandoned the search for a source of knowledge able to draw together disparate pieces of information provided by different disciplines. Kirk draws conclusions, particularly in the area of ethical decision-making, from this apparent failure and invites readers to consider Christian theism afresh as a means for the renewal of culture and society.

Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge

Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge PDF Author: Micaela di Leonardo
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520910354
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge brings feminist anthropology up to date, highlighting the theoretical sophistication that characterizes recent research. Twelve essays by outstanding scholars, written with the volume's concerns specifically in mind, range across the broadest anthropological terrain, assessing and contributing to feminist work on biological anthropology, primate studies, global economy, new reproductive technologies, ethno-linguistics, race and gender, and more. The editor's introduction not only sets two decades of feminist anthropological work in the multiple contexts of changes in anthropological theory and practice, political and economic developments, and larger intellectual shifts, but also lays out the central insights feminist anthropology has to offer us in the postmodern era. The profound issues raised by the authors resonate with the basic interests of any discipline concerned with gender, that is, all of the social sciences and humanities.