Beyond Evolution : Human Nature and the Limits of Evolutionary Explanation

O*Hear, Anthony

ISBN 10: 0198242549 / ISBN 13: 9780198242543

Verlag: Clarendon Press, 1997

Like New. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ERICA79701982425496

Inhaltsangabe:

Anthony O'Hear takes a stand against the fashion for explaining human behaviour in terms of evolution. He maintains, controversially, that while the theory of evolution is successful in explaining the development of the natural world in general, it is of limited value when applied to the human world. Because of our reflectiveness and our rationality we take on goals and ideals which cannot be justified in terms of survival-promotion or reproductive advantage. O'Hear examines the nature of human self-consciousness, and argues that evolutionary theory cannot give a satisfactory account of such distinctive facets of human life as the quest for knowledge, moral sense, and the appreciation of beauty; in these we transcend our biological origins. It is our rationality that allows each of us to go beyond not only our biological but also our cultural inheritance: as the author says in the Preface, `we are prisoners neither of our genes nor of the ideas we encounter as we each make our personal and individual way through life'.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor: Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bradford, and Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Beyond Evolution : Human Nature and the ...
Verlag: Clarendon Press
Erscheinungsdatum: 1997
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Like New
Art des Buches: book