Natural Reflections

Natural Reflections PDF Author: Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300166230
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
In this important and original book, eminent scholar Barbara Herenstein Smith describes, assesses, and reflects upon a set of contemporary intellectual projects involving science, religion, and human cognition. One, which Smith calls "the New Naturalism", is the effort to explain religion on the basis of cognitive science. Another, which she calls "the New Natural Theology", is the attempt to reconcile natural-scientific accounts of the world with traditional religious belief. These two projects, she suggests, are in many ways mirror images -- or "natural reflections"--Of each other. Examing these and related efforts from the perspective of a constructivist-pragmatist epistemology, Smith argues that crucial aspects of belief - religious and other - that remain elusive or invisible under dominant rationalist and computational models are illuminated by views of human cognition that stress its dynamic, embodied, and interactive features. She also demonstrates how constructivist understandings of the formation and stabilization of knowledge - scientific and other - alert us to simularities in the springs of science and religion that are elsewhere seen largely in terms of difference and contrast. In Natural Reflections, Smith develops a sophisticated approach to issues often framed only polemically. Recognizing science and religion as complex, distinct domains of human practice, she also insists on their significant historical connections and cognitive continuities and offers important new modes of engagement with each of them--Jacket.

Natural Reflections

Natural Reflections PDF Author: Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300166230
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this important and original book, eminent scholar Barbara Herenstein Smith describes, assesses, and reflects upon a set of contemporary intellectual projects involving science, religion, and human cognition. One, which Smith calls "the New Naturalism", is the effort to explain religion on the basis of cognitive science. Another, which she calls "the New Natural Theology", is the attempt to reconcile natural-scientific accounts of the world with traditional religious belief. These two projects, she suggests, are in many ways mirror images -- or "natural reflections"--Of each other. Examing these and related efforts from the perspective of a constructivist-pragmatist epistemology, Smith argues that crucial aspects of belief - religious and other - that remain elusive or invisible under dominant rationalist and computational models are illuminated by views of human cognition that stress its dynamic, embodied, and interactive features. She also demonstrates how constructivist understandings of the formation and stabilization of knowledge - scientific and other - alert us to simularities in the springs of science and religion that are elsewhere seen largely in terms of difference and contrast. In Natural Reflections, Smith develops a sophisticated approach to issues often framed only polemically. Recognizing science and religion as complex, distinct domains of human practice, she also insists on their significant historical connections and cognitive continuities and offers important new modes of engagement with each of them--Jacket.

Natural Reflections; or, Gleanings abroad and at home

Natural Reflections; or, Gleanings abroad and at home PDF Author: Henry Barnet Gascoigne
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description


Best of the Books

Best of the Books PDF Author: Oliver A. Houck
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781585761753
Category : Environmental law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Softbound - New, softbound print book.

The Art of Nature

The Art of Nature PDF Author: Tim McNulty
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781435113954
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description


Natural Reflections

Natural Reflections PDF Author: Robert Peters
Publisher: Rocky Mountain Books Incorporated
ISBN: 9781771602549
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
An inspiring and highly original book of photography that takes the reader on an unforgettable walk through the vast and wide beauty of "Natural Canada." Natural Reflections captures natural beauty from the exceptional viewpoint and unique perspective of Mike Grandmaison's lens. The resulting gallery of remarkable images is curated, amplified and informed by the observations of Robert L. Peters. Filled with insightful musings, truisms and parallel quotations from some of the world's greatest thinkers, this book is bound to inspire and truly engage both halves of the brain. Divided into five contemplative chapters - On Inspiration, On Seeing, On Intimacy, On Order, On Change - this lavishly produced volume comprises a rich and seamless interweaving of image and word. This is a book not to be missed by anyone interested in the natural world (and its preservation), the art of outdoor photography, the creative process or this vast land called Canada. The photographer and author - long-time friends and avid nature-lovers - share the humble view that, like a Mother, the Earth both bore us and sustains us, asking little in return but love and respect. This book is their reciprocal tribute and holistic offering.

Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History

Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340848
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
"There is no scientist today whose books I look forward to reading with greater anticipation of enjoyment and enlightenment than Stephen Jay Gould."—Martin Gardner Among scientists who write, no one illuminates as well as Stephen Jay Gould doesthe wonderful workings of the natural world. Now in a new volume of collected essays—his sixth since Ever Since Darwin—Gould speaks of the importance of unbroken connections within our own lives and to our ancestralgenerations. Along with way, he opens to us the mysteries of fish tails, frog calls, and other matters, and shows once and for all why we must take notice when a seemingly insignificant creature is threatened, like the land snail Partula from Moorea, whose extinction he movingly relates.

Dazzle Gradually

Dazzle Gradually PDF Author: Lynn Margulis
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603581367
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
At the crossroads of philosophy and science, the sometimes-dry topics of evolution and ecology come alive in this new collection of essays--many never before anthologized. Learn how technology may be a sort of second nature, how the systemic human fungus Candida albicans can lead to cravings for carrot cake and beer, how the presence of life may be why there's water on Earth, and many other fascinating facts. The essay "Metametazoa" presents perspectives on biology in a philosophical context, demonstrating how the intellectual librarian, pornographer, and political agitator Georges Bataille was influenced by Russian mineralogist Vladimir Vernadsky and how this led to his notion of the absence of meaning in the face of the sun--which later influenced Jacques Derrida, thereby establishing a causal chain of influence from the hard sciences to topics as abstract as deconstruction and post-modernism. In "Spirochetes Awake" the bizarre connection between syphilis and genius in the life of Friedrich Nietzsche is traced. The astonishing similarities of the Acquired-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome symptoms with those of chronic spirochete infection, it is argued, contrast sharply with the lack of evidence that "HIV is the cause of AIDS". Throughout these readings we are dazzled by the intimacy and necessity of relationships between us and our other planetmates. In our ignorance as "civilized" people we dismiss, disdain, and deny our kinship with the only productive life forms that sustain this living planet.

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340414
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
More than any other modern scientists, Stephen Jay Gould has opened up to millions the wonders of evolutionary biology. His genius as an essayist lies in his unmatched ability to use his knowledge of the world, including popular culture, to illuminate the realm of science. Ever Since Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould's first book, has sold more than a quarter of a million copies. Like all succeeding collections by this unique writer, it brings the art of the scientific essay to unparalleled heights.

Still the Same Hawk

Still the Same Hawk PDF Author: John Waldman
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823249913
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
A groundbreaking new book, Still the Same Hawk: Reflections on Nature and New York brings into conversation diverse and intriguing perspectives on the relationship between nature and America’s most prominent city. The volume’s title derives from a telling observation in Robert Sullivan’s contribution that considers how a hawk in the city is perceived so much differently from a hawk in the countryside. Yet it’s still the same hawk. How can a hawk nesting above Fifth Avenue become a citywide phenomenon? Or a sudden butterfly migration at Coney Island energize the community? Why does the presence of a community garden or an empty lot ripple so differently through the surrounding neighborhood? Is the city an oasis or a desert for biodiversity? Why does nature even matter to New Yorkers, who choose to live in the concrete jungle? Still the Same Hawk examines these questions with a rich mix of creative nonfiction that ranges from analytical to anecdotal and humorous. John Waldman’s sharp, well-crafted introduction presenting dualism as the defining quality of urban nature is followed by compelling contributions from Besty McCully, Christopher Meier, Tony Hiss, Kelly McMasters, Dara Ross, William Kornblum, Phillip Lopate, David Rosane, Robert Sullivan, Anne Matthews, Devin Zuber, and Frederick Buell. Together these pieces capture a wide range of viewpoints, including the myriad and shifting ways New Yorkers experience and consider the outdoors, the historical role of nature in shaping New York’s development, what natural attributes contribute to New York’s regional identity, the many environmental tradeoffs made by urbanization, and even nature’s dark side where “urban legends” flourish. Still the Same Hawk intermingles elements of natural history, urban ecology, and environmental politics, providing fresh insights into nature and the urban environment on one of the world’s great stages for the clash of these seemingly disparate realms—New York City.

Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History

Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History PDF Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393340821
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 548

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Book Description
"Provocative and delightfully discursive essays on natural history. . . . Gould is the Stan Musial of essay writing. He can work himself into a corkscrew of ideas and improbable allusions paragraph after paragraph and then, uncoiling, hit it with such power that his fans know they are experiencing the game of essay writing at its best."--John Noble Wilford, New York Times Book Review