Darwins Argument By Analogy

Author : Roger M. White
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108851657
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Darwin's Argument by Analogy written by Roger M. White and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-04 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin put forward his theory of natural selection. Conventionally, Darwin's argument for this theory has been understood as based on an analogy with artificial selection. But there has been no consensus on how, exactly, this analogical argument is supposed to work – and some suspicion too that analogical arguments on the whole are embarrassingly weak. Drawing on new insights into the history of analogical argumentation from the ancient Greeks onward, as well as on in-depth studies of Darwin's public and private writings, this book offers an original perspective on Darwin's argument, restoring to view the intellectual traditions which Darwin took for granted in arguing as he did. From this perspective come new appreciations not only of Darwin's argument but of the metaphors based on it, the range of wider traditions the argument touched upon, and its legacies for science after the Origin.

Author : Devin Griffiths
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421420775
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Age of Analogy written by Devin Griffiths and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2016-10-28 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did literature shape nineteenth-century science? Erasmus Darwin and his grandson, Charles, were the two most important evolutionary theorists of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. Although their ideas and methods differed, both Darwins were prolific and inventive writers: Erasmus composed several epic poems and scientific treatises, while Charles is renowned both for his collected journals (now titled The Voyage of the Beagle) and for his masterpiece, The Origin of Species. In The Age of Analogy, Devin Griffiths argues that the Darwins’ writing style was profoundly influenced by the poets, novelists, and historians of their era. The Darwins, like other scientists of the time, labored to refashion contemporary literary models into a new mode of narrative analysis that could address the contingent world disclosed by contemporary natural science. By employing vivid language and experimenting with a variety of different genres, these writers gave rise to a new relational study of antiquity, or “comparative historicism,” that emerged outside of traditional histories. It flourished instead in literary forms like the realist novel and the elegy, as well as in natural histories that explored the continuity between past and present forms of life. Nurtured by imaginative cross-disciplinary descriptions of the past—from the historical fiction of Sir Walter Scott and George Eliot to the poetry of Alfred Tennyson—this novel understanding of history fashioned new theories of natural transformation, encouraged a fresh investment in social history, and explained our intuition that environment shapes daily life. Drawing on a wide range of archival evidence and contemporary models of scientific and literary networks, The Age of Analogy explores the critical role analogies play within historical and scientific thinking. Griffiths also presents readers with a new theory of analogy that emphasizes language's power to foster insight into nature and human society. The first comparative treatment of the Darwins’ theories of history and their profound contribution to the study of both natural and human systems, this book will fascinate students and scholars of nineteenth-century British literature and the history of science.

Author : Daniel C. Dennett
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439126291
Total Pages : 596 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Darwin's Dangerous Idea written by Daniel C. Dennett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, whom Chet Raymo of The Boston Globe calls "one of the most provocative thinkers on the planet," focuses his unerringly logical mind on the theory of natural selection, showing how Darwin's great idea transforms and illuminates our traditional view of humanity's place in the universe. Dennett vividly describes the theory itself and then extends Darwin's vision with impeccable arguments to their often surprising conclusions, challenging the views of some of the most famous scientists of our day.

Author : Kostas Kampourakis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107034914
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding Evolution written by Kostas Kampourakis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together conceptual obstacles and core concepts of evolutionary theory, this book presents evolution as straightforward and intuitive.

Author : Elliott Sober
Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 1616142782
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? written by Elliott Sober and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it accurate to label Darwin’s theory "the theory of evolution by natural selection," given that the concept of common ancestry is at least as central to Darwin’s theory? Did Darwin reject the idea that group selection causes characteristics to evolve that are good for the group though bad for the individual? How does Darwin’s discussion of God in The Origin of Species square with the common view that he is the champion of methodological naturalism? These are just some of the intriguing questions raised in this volume of interconnected philosophical essays on Darwin. The author's approach is informed by modern issues in evolutionary biology, but is sensitive to the ways in which Darwin’s outlook differed from that of many biologists today. The main topics that are the focus of the book—common ancestry, group selection, sex ratio, and naturalism—have rarely been discussed in their connection with Darwin in such penetrating detail. Author Professor Sober is the 2008 winner of the Prometheus Prize. This biennial award, established in 2006 through the American Philosophical Association, is designed "to honor a distinguished philosopher in recognition of his or her lifetime contribution to expanding the frontiers of research in philosophy and science." This insightful collection of essays will be of interest to philosophers, biologists, and laypersons seeking a deeper understanding of one of the most influential scientific theories ever propounded.

Author : Jeffrey Lang Vanderpool
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Argument by Analogy written by Jeffrey Lang Vanderpool and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Michael Jonathan Sessions Hodge
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521884756
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Darwin written by Michael Jonathan Sessions Hodge and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-05 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides the reader with clear, lively and balanced introductions to the most recent scholarship on Darwin and his intellectual legacies.

Author : William Paley
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Natural Theology; Or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature written by William Paley and published by . This book was released on 1822 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Peter J. Bowler
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226068676
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Darwin Deleted written by Peter J. Bowler and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-03-22 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Michael RUSE
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674043014
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Darwin and Design written by Michael RUSE and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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