The Nature of Life

The Nature of Life PDF Author: Mark A. Bedau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139488651
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Bringing together the latest scientific advances and some of the most enduring subtle philosophical puzzles and problems, this book collects original historical and contemporary sources to explore the wide range of issues surrounding the nature of life. Selections ranging from Aristotle and Descartes to Sagan and Dawkins are organised around four broad themes covering classical discussions of life, the origins and extent of natural life, contemporary artificial life creations and the definition and meaning of 'life' in its most general form. Each section is preceded by an extensive introduction connecting the various ideas discussed in individual chapters and providing helpful background material for understanding them. With its interdisciplinary perspective, this fascinating collection is essential reading for scientists and philosophers interested in astrobiology, synthetic biology and the philosophy of life.

The Nature of Life

The Nature of Life PDF Author: Mark A. Bedau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139488651
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Bringing together the latest scientific advances and some of the most enduring subtle philosophical puzzles and problems, this book collects original historical and contemporary sources to explore the wide range of issues surrounding the nature of life. Selections ranging from Aristotle and Descartes to Sagan and Dawkins are organised around four broad themes covering classical discussions of life, the origins and extent of natural life, contemporary artificial life creations and the definition and meaning of 'life' in its most general form. Each section is preceded by an extensive introduction connecting the various ideas discussed in individual chapters and providing helpful background material for understanding them. With its interdisciplinary perspective, this fascinating collection is essential reading for scientists and philosophers interested in astrobiology, synthetic biology and the philosophy of life.

Seeking Nature's Logic

Seeking Nature's Logic PDF Author: David B. Wilson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271035250
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
"Studies the path of natural philosophy (i.e., physics) from Isaac Newton through Scotland into the nineteenth-century background to the modern revolution in physics. Examines how the history of science has been influenced by John Robison and other notable intellectuals of the Scottish Enlightenment"--Provided by publisher.

A History of Natural Philosophy

A History of Natural Philosophy PDF Author: Edward Grant
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521869315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This book describes how natural philosophy and exact mathematical sciences joined together to make the Scientific Revolution possible.

The Origin of Life

The Origin of Life PDF Author: Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 9780486495224
Category : Evolution (Biology)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This classic of biochemistry offered the first detailed exposition of the theory that living tissue was preceded upon Earth by a long and gradual evolution of nitrogen and carbon compounds. "Easily the most scholarly authority on the question...it will be a landmark for discussion for a long time to come." — New York Times.

The Life Organic

The Life Organic PDF Author: Erik Peterson
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 082298198X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a "vital spark," and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a Third Way in biology, known by many names, including "the organic philosophy," which gave rise to C. H. Waddington's work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. The Life Organic chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham's Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined Third-Way thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.

Chance and Necessity

Chance and Necessity PDF Author: Jacques Monod
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780140256468
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Change and necessity is a statement of Darwinian natural selection as a process driven by chance necessity, devoid of purpose or intent.

Lonely Planets

Lonely Planets PDF Author: David Grinspoon
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061748617
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
PEN Literary Award Winner: “The best, most entertaining examination of the possibility of other life in the universe since [Carl] Sagan’s best work.” —Boulder Daily Camera It’s been decades since Carl Sagan first addressed the general public about the possibility of extraterrestrial life from a scientist’s perspective. We’ve learned a lot in those years, and now planetary scientist David Grinspoon investigates the big questions: How widespread are life and intelligence in the cosmos? Is life on Earth an accident, or in some sense the “purpose” of this universe? And how can we, working from the Earth-centric definition of “life,” even begin to think about the varieties of life-forms on other planets? In accessible, lively prose, and using the topic of extraterrestrial life as a mirror with which to view human beliefs, evolution, history, and aspirations, Grinspoon takes us on a three-part journey—the history of our expanding awareness of other planets and our ideas on alien life dating back to the earliest days of astronomy; the science of cosmic evolution and the evolution of life on Earth, including a critique of the “Rare Earth hypothesis”; and the beliefs that humans hold, addressing the limits of our ability to conceptualize or communicate with intelligent aliens and the scientific and philosophical implications of far-future evolutionary possibilities. Rich in personal and often amusing anecdotes, Lonely Planets explores the shifting boundary between planetary science and natural philosophy, and reveals how the search for extraterrestrial life unites our spiritual and scientific quests for connection with the cosmos. Includes a new foreword about recent Mars discoveries “An outstanding introduction to cosmic evolution.” —San Jose Mercury News “[A] terrific book.” —San Diego Union-Tribune “A personable chat on life, the universe and everything.” —Publishers Weekly

Scenes of Clerical Life (Classic Reprint)

Scenes of Clerical Life (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: George Eliot
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Excerpt from Scenes of Clerical Life Litany, only to feel with more intensity my burst into the conspicuousness of public life when I was made to stand up on the seat during the psalms or the singing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World PDF Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466804270
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 599

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Book Description
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Origins of the Universe, Life and Species

Origins of the Universe, Life and Species PDF Author: Plammoottil Cherian
Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
ISBN: 164003191X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description
The relationship between science and theology has been a crisis for humanity since Darwin's publication of Origin of Species that affects the very core of scientific and Biblical truths with serious consequences. In this detailed and absorbing book Dr. Cherian provides astounding facts of science that were deciphered in the last 500 years, each of which is recorded in the Biblical Scriptures. Heeding back to the Biblical account of creation, Dr. Cherian takes the readers from the erroneous notion of the origin of the universe without a cause and abiogenesis as the source of life to the latest scientific discoveries that corroborate the Biblical evidence for divine creation of the universe, life and species that dispel Darwinian evolution. The Origins of the Universe, Life and Species sheds much light for a better understanding of the Scriptures that were hidden to many scientists, researchers and students to relate the scientific discoveries that reveal the Biblical truths for a better appreciation of the unknown God who reveals himself through the many scientists and their discoveries. Dr. Cherian, uses all branches of science from astronomy to zoology connecting the dots between science and theology that stretches from the highest of heavens (outer space) to the deepest of ocean floor revealing the unknown God to be the KNOWN GOD.