A Darwinian Left

A Darwinian Left PDF Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300189990
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
In this ground-breaking book, a renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature. He shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory, particularly on the evolution of cooperation, can help the left attain its social and political goals. Singer explains why the left originally rejected Darwinian thought and why these reasons are no longer viable. He discusses how twentieth-century thinking has transformed our understanding of Darwinian evolution, showing that it is compatible with cooperation as well as competition, and that the left can draw on this modern understanding to foster cooperation for socially desirable ends. A Darwinian left, says Singer, would still be on the side of the weak, poor, and oppressed, but it would have a better understanding of what social and economic changes would really work to benefit them. It would also work toward a higher moral status for nonhuman animals and a less anthropocentric view of our dominance over nature.

A Darwinian Left

A Darwinian Left PDF Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300189990
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 61

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this ground-breaking book, a renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature. He shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory, particularly on the evolution of cooperation, can help the left attain its social and political goals. Singer explains why the left originally rejected Darwinian thought and why these reasons are no longer viable. He discusses how twentieth-century thinking has transformed our understanding of Darwinian evolution, showing that it is compatible with cooperation as well as competition, and that the left can draw on this modern understanding to foster cooperation for socially desirable ends. A Darwinian left, says Singer, would still be on the side of the weak, poor, and oppressed, but it would have a better understanding of what social and economic changes would really work to benefit them. It would also work toward a higher moral status for nonhuman animals and a less anthropocentric view of our dominance over nature.

A Darwinian Left

A Darwinian Left PDF Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300083238
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
A renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature and shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory can help the left attain its social and political goals.

The Evolution of Cooperation

The Evolution of Cooperation PDF Author: Robert Axelrod
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786734884
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
A famed political scientist's classic argument for a more cooperative world We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1980, he organized the famed Computer Prisoners Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the optimal strategy for survival in a particular game. Over and over, the simplest strategy, a cooperative program called Tit for Tat, shut out the competition. In other words, cooperation, not unfettered competition, turns out to be our best chance for survival. A vital book for leaders and decision makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy, to political elections, to family dynamics.

The First Darwinian Left

The First Darwinian Left PDF Author: David Stack
Publisher: New Clarion Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Cultural Writing. Political Science. Cutting through the myths, misunderstandings, and neglect that have obscured the influence of Darwinism on radical thought, this detailed account examines the paradoxical challenges that Darwinism posed for late 19th- and early 20th- century socialism. This study shows that Darwin provided British socialists from Alfred Russel Wallace to Emile Vandervelde with a new language of political expression, and that socialist thought developed through interaction with the most advanced biological theories of the day.

Darwinian Politics

Darwinian Politics PDF Author: Paul H. Rubin
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813530963
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
An examination of political behaviour from a modern evolutionary perspective. Paul H. Rubin discusses group or social behaviour, including: ethnic and racial conflict; altruism and co-operation; envy; political power; and the role of religion in politics.

What's Left of Human Nature?

What's Left of Human Nature? PDF Author: Maria Kronfeldner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262347970
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
A philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against dehumanization, Darwinian, and developmentalist challenges. Human nature has always been a foundational issue for philosophy. What does it mean to have a human nature? Is the concept the relic of a bygone age? What is the use of such a concept? What are the epistemic and ontological commitments people make when they use the concept? In What's Left of Human Nature? Maria Kronfeldner offers a philosophical account of human nature that defends the concept against contemporary criticism. In particular, she takes on challenges related to social misuse of the concept that dehumanizes those regarded as lacking human nature (the dehumanization challenge); the conflict between Darwinian thinking and essentialist concepts of human nature (the Darwinian challenge); and the consensus that evolution, heredity, and ontogenetic development result from nurture and nature. After answering each of these challenges, Kronfeldner presents a revisionist account of human nature that minimizes dehumanization and does not fall back on outdated biological ideas. Her account is post-essentialist because it eliminates the concept of an essence of being human; pluralist in that it argues that there are different things in the world that correspond to three different post-essentialist concepts of human nature; and interactive because it understands nature and nurture as interacting at the developmental, epigenetic, and evolutionary levels. On the basis of this, she introduces a dialectical concept of an ever-changing and “looping” human nature. Finally, noting the essentially contested character of the concept and the ambiguity and redundancy of the terminology, she wonders if we should simply eliminate the term “human nature” altogether.

Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life

Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life PDF Author: Steve Stewart-Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490990
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
If you accept evolutionary theory, can you also believe in God? Are human beings superior to other animals, or is this just a human prejudice? Does Darwin have implications for heated issues like euthanasia and animal rights? Does evolution tell us the purpose of life, or does it imply that life has no ultimate purpose? Does evolution tell us what is morally right and wrong, or does it imply that ultimately 'nothing' is right or wrong? In this fascinating and intriguing book, Steve Stewart-Williams addresses these and other fundamental philosophical questions raised by evolutionary theory and the exciting new field of evolutionary psychology. Drawing on biology, psychology and philosophy, he argues that Darwinian science supports a view of a godless universe devoid of ultimate purpose or moral structure, but that we can still live a good life and a happy life within the confines of this view.

Why Darwin Matters

Why Darwin Matters PDF Author: Michael Shermer
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429900903
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
A creationist-turned-scientist demonstrates the facts of evolution and exposes Intelligent Design's real agenda Science is on the defensive. Half of Americans reject the theory of evolution and "Intelligent Design" campaigns are gaining ground. Classroom by classroom, creationism is overthrowing biology. In Why Darwin Matters, bestselling author Michael Shermer explains how the newest brand of creationism appeals to our predisposition to look for a designer behind life's complexity. Shermer decodes the scientific evidence to show that evolution is not "just a theory" and illustrates how it achieves the design of life through the bottom-up process of natural selection. Shermer, once an evangelical Christian and a creationist, argues that Intelligent Design proponents are invoking a combination of bad science, political antipathy, and flawed theology. He refutes their pseudoscientific arguments and then demonstrates why conservatives and people of faith can and should embrace evolution. He then appraises the evolutionary questions that truly need to be settled, building a powerful argument for science itself. Cutting the politics away from the facts, Why Darwin Matters is an incisive examination of what is at stake in the debate over evolution.

Darwin Deleted

Darwin Deleted PDF Author: Peter J. Bowler
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226068676
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
A history of science text imagining how evolutionary theory and biology would have been understood if Darwin had never published his "Origin of Species" and other works.--publisher summary.

Origins of Genius

Origins of Genius PDF Author: Dean Keith Simonton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195128796
Category : Creative ability
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This groundbreaking book applies Darwin's theory of natural selection to the creative process and takes readers inside the mind of genius. Line art.