Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262023733 ISBN 13: 9780262023733

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1994

Synopsis

As in her first well-received anthology, From Gaia to Selfish Genes, Connie Barlow has woven selections from the writings of biologists and philosophers into a unified whole. Once again she explores a range of viewpoints as she invites readers to formulate their own opinions. Editorial passages provide the historical context and introduce the debates that have ensued whenever evolutionary biology has been extended into the realm of meaning.

About this title

About the Author

Connie Barlow is a science writer and freelance editor.

Reviews

This unique anthology of 39 major selections explores the basic issues and disparate interpretations of science, philosophy, and theology regarding evolution. The topics covered include complexity, diversity, contingency, dominant types, symbiosis, and mass extinctions; evolutionary worldviews ranging from Darwinian materialism to Teilhardian mysticism are discussed. Special attention is given to a critical examination of chance and necessity and to the alleged teleology (progress, purpose, direction, and end-goal) in organic evolution. Of particular significance are excerpts from Julian Huxley, Jacques Monod, William Provine, and Edward O. Wilson. Entries on the present Gaia hypothesis and the ongoing controversy between fundamentalist creationists and scientific evolutionists make this book relevant as well as informative and provocative. Enriched with poems, illustrations, editorial comments, and copious references, this is recommended for all academic and public library evolution collections.
James Birx, Canisius Coll., Buffalo
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A central issue in this readable, thought-provoking collection of excerpts is the relevance of theology to an understanding of evolution. Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin extols humankind as the predestined pinnacle of evolution, uniquely aware of a "great presence." Rubbish, replies molecular biologist Jacques Monodi; humans evolved by pure chance and stand alone in the vastness of an unfeeling universe. Arrayed around these antithetic views are the tenets of the "peacemakers and provocateurs." New religions are proposed, such as Julian Huxley's evolutionary humanism, which would replace divine revelation and the supernatural with a belief system founded on the scientific method. Also discussed are such maverick perspectives as James Lovelock's Gaia theory, which posits the earth as a living, dynamic entity and humanity as its sense organs, and Dawkins' selfish gene theory, which holds that we are robots invented by genes in an "arms race" response to perils beyond the primordial soup. Brenda Grazis

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262023733
• ISBN 13: 9780262023733
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Barlow Connie