Synopsis
In Within Reason, leading neurologist Donald B. Calne investigates the phenomenon of rationality from an astonishingly wide array of scientific, sociological, and philosophical perspectives--and shows that although reason evolved as a crucial tool for human survival, it is an aspect of mind and brain which has no inherent moral or spiritual qualities and one whose relationship to our thoughts and actions may not be as central as we want to believe. Learned, lucid, and always illuminating, Within Reason brings together the latest developments in the science of mind with some of the most enduring questions of Western thought.
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Review
Neurology researcher and clinician Donald Calne compares defining reason to assembling an incomplete jigsaw puzzle: we don't have all the pieces, and the pieces we do have don't always fit together well. But that doesn't stop him from setting out on the ambitious task of surveying our current understanding of reason and the historical role it has played for our species.
Within Reason begins with a simple--and in some ways counterintuitive--definition of reason, calling it a mere tool, not a motivator of humanity but an enabler. A powerful and versatile tool to be sure, but one whose purpose is specific to helping us get what we want, not revealing why it is that we want it. With this supposition, Calne methodically dissects reason's role in such spheres as ethics, government, language, and religion, supporting each assertion with historical anecdotes and the writing and research of others.
If Within Reason is any indication, Donald Calne would be charming dinner company. While you might not agree with every point he makes, you'd never be disappointed by the conversation. --Paul Hughes
From the Back Cover
"Donald Calne is a renowned neurologist with a deep knowledge of brain and mind who has thought long and passionately on why we are as we are. Now, in Within Reason, he has brought together all his varied knowledge into a profound essay on the human condition. Reason emerges not as a sovereign power but as a strategy evolved of our species with no moral absolute of its own--a strategy that can be used, equally, for the noblest enterprises or the basest. In a sense, this is what philosophers from Aristotle to Kant have said, but here the thesis is grounded in Dr. Calne's deep knowledge of the human nervous system and its evolution."
--Oliver Sacks, author of Anthropologist on Mars and The Island of the Colorblind
"Calne traces the evolutionary, neuroethologic, genetic, linguistic, and cultural development of human reasoning with clarity and focus. He shows our humanness has emerged from rational thought and that our precariousness as a species will depend on a yet unperceived consilience to contain and bias reason for choosing good. Calne is in league with Steven Pinker, Antonio Damasio, and E. O. Wilson among other current important neuroscientists and Within Reason provides compelling new insights into the workings of the human brain."
--Roger N. Rosenberg, M.D., Zale Distinguished Chair in Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Chief Editor, Archives of Neurology
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Within Reason Rationality and Human Behavior
Seller: Isaiah Thomas Books & Prints, Inc., Cotuit, MA, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Near fine in near fine dj but for some spots top edge and fore edge finger smudges.; 9.3 X 6.0 X 1.2 inches; 332 pages. Seller Inventory # 0814H661956