Evolution On Purpose
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Evolution On Purpose
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Author : Peter A. Corning
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2023-08-22
Evolution On Purpose written by Peter A. Corning and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-08-22 with Science categories.
A unique exploration of teleonomy—also known as “evolved purposiveness”—as a major influence in evolution by a broad range of specialists in biology and the philosophy of science. The evolved purposiveness of living systems, termed “teleonomy” by chronobiologist Colin Pittendrigh, has been both a major outcome and causal factor in the history of life on Earth. Many theorists have appreciated this over the years, going back to Lamarck and even Darwin in the nineteenth century. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the complex, dynamic process of evolution was simplified into the one-way, bottom-up, single gene-centered paradigm widely known as the modern synthesis. In Evolution “On Purpose,” edited by Peter A. Corning, Stuart A. Kauffman, Denis Noble, James A. Shapiro, Richard I. Vane-Wright, and Addy Pross, some twenty theorists attempt to modify this reductive approach by exploring in depth the different ways in which living systems have themselves shaped the course of evolution. Evolution “On Purpose” puts forward a more inclusive theoretical synthesis that goes far beyond the underlying principles and assumptions of the modern synthesis to accommodate work since the 1950s in molecular genetics, developmental biology, epigenetic inheritance, genomics, multilevel selection, niche construction, physiology, behavior, biosemiotics, chemical reaction theory, and other fields. In the view of the authors, active biological processes are responsible for the direction and the rate of evolution. Essays in this collection grapple with topics from the two-way “read-write” genome to cognition and decision-making in plants to the niche-construction activities of many organisms to the self-making evolution of humankind. As this collection compellingly shows, and as bacterial geneticist James Shapiro emphasizes, “The capacity of living organisms to alter their own heredity is undeniable.”
Agents And Goals In Evolution
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Author : Samir Okasha
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2018-06-21
Agents And Goals In Evolution written by Samir Okasha and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-06-21 with Science categories.
Samir Okasha offers a philosophical perspective on evolutionary biology in Agents and Goals in Evolution. His focus is on "agential thinking", which is a mode of thought commonly employed in evolutionary biology. The paradigm case of agential thinking involves treating an evolved organism as if it were an agent pursuing a goal, such as survival or reproduction, and treating its phenotypic traits as strategies for achieving that goal, or furthering its biological interests. Agential thinking involves deliberately transposing a set of concepts - goals, interests, strategies - from rational human agents to the biological world more generally. Okasha's enquiry begins by asking whether this is justified. Is agential thinking mere anthropomorphism, or does it play a genuine intellectual role in the science? This central question leads Okasha to a series of further questions. How do we identify the "goal" that evolved organisms will behave as if they are trying to achieve? Can agential thinking ever be applied to groups or genes, rather than to individual organisms? And how does agential thinking relate to the controversies over fitness-maximization in evolutionary biology? In the final third of the book, Okasha examines the relation between the adaptive and the rational. If organisms can validly be treated as agent-like, for the purposes of evolutionary analysis, should we expect that their evolved behaviour will correspond to the behaviour of rational agents as codified in the theory of rational choice? If so, does this mean that the fitness-maximizing paradigm of the evolutionary biologist can be mapped directly to the utility-maximizing paradigm of the rational choice theorist? Okasha explores these questions using an inter-disciplinary methodology that draws on philosophy of science, evolutionary biology and economics.
Darwin And Design
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Author : Michael RUSE
language : en
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Release Date : 2009-06-30
Darwin And Design written by Michael RUSE and has been published by Harvard University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2009-06-30 with Science categories.
The intricate forms of living things bespeak design, and thus a creator: nearly 150 years after Darwin's theory of natural selection called this argument into question, we still speak of life in terms of design--the function of the eye, the purpose of the webbed foot, the design of the fins. Why is the "argument from design" so tenacious, and does Darwinism--itself still evolving after all these years--necessarily undo it? The definitive work on these contentious questions, Darwin and Design surveys the argument from design from its introduction by the Greeks, through the coming of Darwinism, down to the present day. In clear, non-technical language Michael Ruse, a well-known authority on the history and philosophy of Darwinism, offers a full and fair assessment of the status of the argument from design in light of both the advances of modern evolutionary biology and the thinking of today's philosophers--with special attention given to the supporters and critics of "intelligent design." The first comprehensive history and exposition of Western thought about design in the natural world, this important work suggests directions for our thinking as we move into the twenty-first century. A thoroughgoing guide to a perennially controversial issue, the book makes its own substantial contribution to the ongoing debate about the relationship between science and religion, and between evolution and its religious critics. Table of Contents: Preface Introduction 1. Two Thousand Years of Design 2. Paley and Kant Fight Back 3. Sowing the Seeds of Evolution 4. A Plurality of Problems 5. Charles Darwin 6. A Subject Too Profound 7. Darwinian against Darwinian 8. The Century of Evolutionism 9. Adaptation in Action 10. Theory and Test 11. Formalism Redux 12. From Function to Design 13. Design as Metaphor 14. Natural Theology Evolves 15. Turning Back the Clock Sources and Suggested Reading Illustration Credits Acknowledgments Index Reviews of this book: Ruse examines the concept of 'design' in nature, explaining why it still remains a strong influence despite the scientific revolution, and historically, how it dominated Western thought from ancient Greece (Plato) to the advent and predominance of Christianity...A rich and compelling book. --J. S. Schwartz, Choice Reviews of this book: Anyone who is interested in the 'science wars' controversy or the history of evolutionary thought will find this book fascinating and rewarding. The prose is masterfill--relaxed, colloquial, rich in information, and suffused with flashes of malicious wit and delicious historical tidbits. --Matt Cartmill, Reports of the National Center for Science Education Reviews of this book: To anyone interested in the evolution of evolution, I recommend this book. --John Tyler Bonner, Natural History Reviews of this book: This has to be the best of Ruse's many books, and it is hard to imagine how a better one could be written on this subject. With an understanding erudition spiced with good-natured wit and occasional sly ribaldry, Ruse moves easily and assuredly among biology, philosophy, history, and theology. --Robert T. Pennock, Science Reviews of this book: Michael Ruse's latest book, Darwin and Design, is an intellectual history of the design argument and its Darwinian solution...His story is a fascinating one, enlivened especially by his accounts of various imaginative attempts before Darwin to solve the design problem without recourse to a deity. --Daniel W. McShea, American Scientist
Evolution S Purpose
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Author : Steve McIntosh
language : en
Publisher: SelectBooks, Inc.
Release Date : 2012-10
Evolution S Purpose written by Steve McIntosh and has been published by SelectBooks, Inc. this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-10 with Body, Mind & Spirit categories.
"Presents the author's view of the scientific story of our evolutionary origins to show how evolution's progressive generation of emergent value reveals a larger purpose within the process. He demonstrates how this purpose can be felt within each of us as the evolutionary impulse to make things better--to grow toward ever-widening realizations of beauty, truth, and goodness"--Provided by publisher.
Unfit For Purpose
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Author : Adam Hart
language : en
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date : 2020-06-11
Unfit For Purpose written by Adam Hart and has been published by Bloomsbury Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-06-11 with Science categories.
'A gripping and sobering reminder of how much we are all governed by our genetic inheritance. So much for free will.' The Mail on Sunday Stress, obesity, poor mental health, drug addiction, bowel diseases, violence and fake news; a stark checklist of modern world problems and every one of them is an echo of our evolutionary past. In Unfit for Purpose, biologist and broadcaster Adam Hart explores the mismatch between our fundamental biology and the modern world we have created. In each chapter Adam reveals the many ways in which biological adaptations that evolved to help us survive and thrive now work against us. For example, in the modern world stress is a killer but how did 'fight or flight' instincts turn from life-savers to life-takers? Obesity is a disease now but is it also just a side-effect of our evolutionary past? Whether it's the derailing of microbes in our gut, the rise of gluten and lactose intolerance, problems of social media or drug addiction, we always seem to have one foot in the modern world and the other firmly in our evolutionary past. Adam explores science, archaeology, medicine, genetics, sociology and more, to show how, in a modern world of our own making, we find ourselves 'unfit for purpose'. But all is not lost! In unpicking the causes of our current woes, he unearths some secrets of evolutionarily informed treatments that will change the way we think about ourselves and our future.
Plan And Purpose In Nature
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Author : George C. Williams
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 1997
Plan And Purpose In Nature written by George C. Williams and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1997 with Adaptation (Biology) categories.
In Plan and Purpose in Nature George C. Williams examines Darwinian evolution in the natural world. He tells the story not only of adaptations which natural selection produces through nature, but also the limitations of evolution for modern human beings, and how the rapid evolution of micro-organisms is likely to pose an alarming threat to human health.
Purpose
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Author : Samuel T. Wilkinson
language : en
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date : 2024-03-05
Purpose written by Samuel T. Wilkinson and has been published by Simon and Schuster this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-03-05 with Science categories.
By using principles from a variety of scientific disciplines, Yale Professor Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework for human evolution that reveals an overarching purpose to our existence. Generations have been taught that evolution implies there is no overarching purpose to our existence, that life has no fundamental meaning. We are merely the accumulation of tens of thousands of intricate molecular accidents. Some scientists take this logic one step further, suggesting that evolution is intrinsically atheistic and goes against the concept of God. But is this true? By integrating emerging principles from a variety of scientific disciplines—ranging from evolutionary biology to psychology—Yale Professor Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework of evolution that implies not only that there is an overarching purpose to our existence, but what this purpose is. With respect to our evolution, nature seems to have endowed us with competing dispositions, what Wilkinson calls the dual potential of human nature. We are pulled in different directions: selfishness and altruism, aggression and cooperation, lust and love. When we couple this with the observation that we possess a measure of free will, all this strongly implies there is a universal purpose to our existence. This purpose, at least one of them, is to choose between the good and evil impulses that nature has created within us. Our life is a test. This is a truth, as old as history it seems, that has been espoused by so many of the world’s religions. From a certain framework, these aspects of human nature—including how evolution shaped us—are evidence for the existence of a God, not against it. Closely related to this is meaning. What is the meaning of life? Based on the scientific data, it would seem that one such meaning is to develop deep and abiding relationships. At least that is what most people report are the most meaningful aspects of their lives. This is a function of our evolution. It is how we were created.
Purpose In The Living World
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Author : Jacob Klapwijk
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2008-12-04
Purpose In The Living World written by Jacob Klapwijk and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2008-12-04 with Religion categories.
Jacob Klapwijk considers the stark choice many believers and non-believers face between religious notions concerning the origins of life and the contemporary findings of evolutionary science. He offers an alternative to both and an attempt to bridge the gap between them, via the idea of 'emergent evolution'.
Sci Ma
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Author : George C. Williams
language : en
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Release Date : 1996-10-28
Sci Ma written by George C. Williams and has been published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1996-10-28 with categories.
Plan and Purpose in Nature is a brilliant survey of Darwinian evolution in the natural world. It tells the story not only of the wonderful adaptations which the process of the natural selection produces throughout nature,but also the limitations of evolution for the 20th century human beings,which environment and diet have changed drastically while their biology and psychology have not.
Purpose Desire
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Author : J. Scott Turner
language : en
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date : 2017-09-12
Purpose Desire written by J. Scott Turner and has been published by HarperCollins this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-09-12 with Science categories.
A professor, biologist, and physiologist argues that modern Darwinism’s materialist and mechanistic biases have led to a scientific dead end, unable to define what life is—and only an openness to the qualities of "purpose and desire" will move the field forward. Scott Turner contends. "To be scientists, we force ourselves into a Hobson’s choice on the matter: accept intentionality and purposefulness as real attributes of life, which disqualifies you as a scientist; or become a scientist and dismiss life’s distinctive quality from your thinking. I have come to believe that this choice actually stands in the way of our having a fully coherent theory of life." Growing research shows that life's most distinctive quality, shared by all living things, is purpose and desire: maintain homeostasis to sustain life. In Purpose and Desire, Turner draws on the work of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Darwin revered among physiologists as the founder of experimental medicine, to build on Bernard’s "dangerous idea" of vitalism, which seeks to identify what makes "life" a unique phenomenon of nature. To further its quest to achieve a fuller understanding of life, Turner argues, science must move beyond strictly accepted measures that consider only the mechanics of nature. A thoughtful appeal to widen our perspective of biology that is grounded in scientific evidence, Purpose and Desire helps us bridge the ideological evolutionary divide.