Download or read book Darwin s Evolving Identity written by Alistair Sponsel and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-03-21 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why—against his mentor’s exhortations to publish—did Charles Darwin take twenty years to reveal his theory of evolution by natural selection? In Darwin’s Evolving Identity, Alistair Sponsel argues that Darwin adopted this cautious approach to atone for his provocative theorizing as a young author spurred by that mentor, the geologist Charles Lyell. While we might expect him to have been tormented by guilt about his private study of evolution, Darwin was most distressed by harsh reactions to his published work on coral reefs, volcanoes, and earthquakes, judging himself guilty of an authorial “sin of speculation.” It was the battle to defend himself against charges of overzealous theorizing as a geologist, rather than the prospect of broader public outcry over evolution, which made Darwin such a cautious author of Origin of Species. Drawing on his own ambitious research in Darwin’s manuscripts and at the Beagle’s remotest ports of call, Sponsel takes us from the ocean to the Origin and beyond. He provides a vivid new picture of Darwin’s career as a voyaging naturalist and metropolitan author, and in doing so makes a bold argument about how we should understand the history of scientific theories.
Download or read book Rhetorical Darwinism written by Thomas M. Lessl and published by . This book was released on 2012-02-15 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything evolves, science tells us, including the public language used by scientists to sustain and perpetuate their work. Harkening back to the Protestant Reformation--a time when the promise of scientific inquiry was intimately connected with a deep faith in divine Providence--Thomas Lessl traces the evolving role and public identity of science in the West. As the Reformation gave way to the Enlightenment, notions of Providence evolved into progress. History's divine plan could now be found in nature, and scientists became history's new prophets. With Darwin and the emergence of evolutionary science, progress and evolution collapsed together into what Lessl calls "evolutionism," and the grand scientific identity was used to advance science's power into the world. In this masterful treatment, Lessl analyzes the descent of these patterns of scientific advocacy from the world of Francis Bacon into the world of Thomas Huxley and his successors. In the end, Rhetorical Darwinism proposes that Darwin's power to fuel the establishment of science within the Western social milieu often turns from its scientific course. Rhetorical Darwinism: Religion, Evolution, and the Scientific Identity received the Religious Communication Associatons "Book of the Year" award in 2012.
Download or read book Living with Darwin written by Philip Kitcher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Darwin has been at the center of white-hot public debate for more than a century. In Living With Darwin, Philip Kitcher stokes the flames swirling around Darwin's theory, sifting through the scientific evidence for evolution, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design, and revealing why evolution has been the object of such vehement attack. Kitcher first provides valuable perspective on the present controversy, describing the many puzzles that blocked evolution's acceptance in the early years, and explaining how scientific research eventually found the answers to these conundrums. Interestingly, Kitcher shows that many of these early questions have been resurrected in recent years by proponents of Intelligent Design. In fact, Darwin himself considered the issue of intelligent design, and amassed a mountain of evidence that effectively refuted the idea. Kitcher argues that the problem with Intelligent Design isn't that it's "not science," as many critics say, but that it's "dead science," raising questions long resolved by scientists. But Kitcher points out that it is also important to recognize the cost of Darwin's success--the price of "life with Darwin." Darwinism has a profound effect on our understanding of our place in the universe, on our religious beliefs and aspirations. It is in truth the focal point of a larger clash between religious faith and modern science. Unless we can resolve this larger issue, the war over evolution will go on.
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.
Download or read book What Darwin Didn t Know written by Geoffrey Simmons and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Seductions of Darwin written by Matthew Rampley and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2017-01-12 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surge of evolutionary and neurological analyses of art and its effects raises questions of how art, culture, and the biological sciences influence one another, and what we gain in applying scientific methods to the interpretation of artwork. In this insightful book, Matthew Rampley addresses these questions by exploring key areas where Darwinism, neuroscience, and art history intersect. Taking a scientific approach to understanding art has led to novel and provocative ideas about its origins, the basis of aesthetic experience, and the nature of research into art and the humanities. Rampley’s inquiry examines models of artistic development, the theories and development of aesthetic response, and ideas about brain processes underlying creative work. He considers the validity of the arguments put forward by advocates of evolutionary and neuroscientific analysis, as well as its value as a way of understanding art and culture. With the goal of bridging the divide between science and culture, Rampley advocates for wider recognition of the human motivations that drive inquiry of all types, and he argues that our engagement with art can never be encapsulated in a single notion of scientific knowledge. Engaging and compelling, The Seductions of Darwin is a rewarding look at the identity and development of art history and its complicated ties to the world of scientific thought.
Download or read book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex written by Charles Darwin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-09-02 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the current resurgence of interest in the biological basis of animal behavior and social organization, the ideas and questions pursued by Charles Darwin remain fresh and insightful. This is especially true of The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin's second most important work. This edition is a facsimile reprint of the first printing of the first edition (1871), not previously available in paperback. The work is divided into two parts. Part One marshals behavioral and morphological evidence to argue that humans evolved from other animals. Darwin shoes that human mental and emotional capacities, far from making human beings unique, are evidence of an animal origin and evolutionary development. Part Two is an extended discussion of the differences between the sexes of many species and how they arose as a result of selection. Here Darwin lays the foundation for much contemporary research by arguing that many characteristics of animals have evolved not in response to the selective pressures exerted by their physical and biological environment, but rather to confer an advantage in sexual competition. These two themes are drawn together in two final chapters on the role of sexual selection in humans. In their Introduction, Professors Bonner and May discuss the place of The Descent in its own time and relation to current work in biology and other disciplines.
Download or read book The Book That Changed America written by Randall Fuller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature, religion, science and race “A lively and informative history.” – The New York Times Book Review Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs. Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin’s just-published On the Origin of Species on five American intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin Sanborn. Each of these figures seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition. Darwin’s depiction of constant struggle and endless competition described America on the brink of civil war. But some had difficulty aligning the new theory to their religious convictions and their faith in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected all, absorbed Darwin’s views into his mysterious final work on species migration and the interconnectedness of all living things. Creating a rich tableau of nineteenth-century American intellectual culture, as well as providing a fascinating biography of perhaps the single most important idea of that time, The Book That Changed America is also an account of issues and concerns still with us today, including racism and the enduring conflict between science and religion.
Download or read book Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection written by Evelleen Richards and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sexual selection, or the struggle for mates, was of considerable strategic importance to Darwin s theory of evolution as he first outlined it in the "Origin of Species," and later, in the "Descent of Man," it took on a much wider role. There, Darwin s exhaustive elaboration of sexual selection throughout the animal kingdom was directed to substantiating his view that human racial and sexual differences, not just physical differences but certain mental and moral differences, had evolved primarily through the action of sexual selection. It was the culmination of a lifetime of intellectual effort and commitment. Yet even though he argued its validity with a great array of critics, sexual selection went into abeyance with Darwin s death, not to be revived until late in the twentieth century, and even today it remains a controversial theory. In unfurling the history of sexual selection, Evelleen Richards brings to vivid life Darwin the man, not the myth, and the social and intellectual roots of his theory building."
Download or read book Darwinian Politics written by Paul H. Rubin and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of political behaviour from a modern evolutionary perspective. Paul H. Rubin discusses group or social behaviour, including: ethnic and racial conflict; altruism and co-operation; envy; political power; and the role of religion in politics.
Download or read book On Evolution written by Charles Darwin and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an introduction that presents Darwin's theory. This title includes excerpts from Darwin's correspondence, commenting on the work in question, and its significance, impact, and reception.
Download or read book Darwin s Most Wonderful Plants written by Ken Thompson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-10-07 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many people, the story of Charles Darwin goes like this: he ventured to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle, was inspired by the biodiversity of the birds he saw there, and immediately returned home to write his theory of evolution. But this simplified narrative is inaccurate and lacking: it leaves out a major part of Darwin’s legacy. He published On the Origin of Species nearly thirty years after his voyages. And much of his life was spent experimenting with and observing plants. Darwin was a brilliant and revolutionary botanist whose observations and theories were far ahead of his time. With Darwin’s Most Wonderful Plants, biologist and gardening expert Ken Thompson restores this important aspect of Darwin’s biography while also delighting in the botanical world that captivated the famous scientist. Thompson traces how well Darwin’s discoveries have held up, revealing that many are remarkably long-lasting. Some findings are only now being confirmed and extended by high-tech modern research, while some have been corrected through recent analysis. We learn from Thompson how Darwin used plants to shape his most famous theory and then later how he used that theory to further push the boundaries of botanical knowledge. We also get to look over Darwin’s shoulder as he labors, learning more about his approach to research and his astonishing capacity for hard work. Darwin’s genius was to see the wonder and the significance in the ordinary and mundane, in the things that most people wouldn’t look at twice. Both Thompson and Darwin share a love for our most wonderful plants and the remarkable secrets they can unlock. This book will instill that same joy in casual gardeners and botany aficionados alike.
Download or read book Reclaiming Science from Darwinism written by Kenneth Poppe and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2006-09-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Foreword: William Dembski, PhD." Darwinism is a 150-year-old icon that has been propped up by unproven suppositions. The scientific discoveries of the last few decades are now kicking out the props. Dr. Kenneth Poppe is convinced the icon is ready to topple. Providing extensive scientific evidence of Darwinism's failures, this career biology instructor uses enlightening analogies and examples to explain the theory's problems: blind-luck assembly of the first cell mathematical "im"probabilities the laws of thermodynamics hypothetical sudden mutations biased mind-sets Spiced with humor and helpful graphics, this popularly targeted text shows readers that--in regard to objections to evolution--"the science is truly there." "A superior resource for students, parents, and private- or public-school educators."
Download or read book Darwin s Doubt written by Stephen C. Meyer and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue, but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the “Cambrian explosion,” many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life—a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. During the last half century, biologists have come to appreciate the central importance of biological information—stored in DNA and elsewhere in cells—to building animal forms. Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, Signature in the Cell, Meyer argues that the origin of this information, as well as other mysterious features of the Cambrian event, are best explained by intelligent design, rather than purely undirected evolutionary processes.
Download or read book Hacking Darwin written by Jamie Metzl and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A gifted and thoughtful writer, Metzl brings us to the frontiers of biology and technology, and reveals a world full of promise and peril." — Siddhartha Mukherjee MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene A groundbreaking exploration of genetic engineering and its impact on the future of our species from leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist, Jamie Metzl. At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race. Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. In this captivating and thought-provoking nonfiction science book, Jamie Metzl delves into the ethical, scientific, political, and technological dimensions of genetic engineering, and shares how it will shape the course of human evolution. Cutting-edge insights into the field of genetic engineering and its implications for humanity's future Explores the transformative power of genetic technologies and their potential to reshape human life Examines the ethical considerations surrounding genetic engineering and the choices we face as a species Engaging narrative that delves into the scientific breakthroughs and real-world applications of genetic technologies Provides a balanced perspective on the promises and risks associated with genetic engineering Raises thought-provoking questions about the future of reproduction, human health, and our relationship with nature Drawing on his extensive background in genetics, national security, and foreign policy, Metzl paints a vivid picture of a world where advancements in technology empower us to take control of our own evolution, but also cautions against the pitfalls and ethical dilemmas that could arise if not properly managed. Hacking Darwin is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of science, technology, and humanity's future.
Download or read book What s Darwin Got to Do with It written by Robert C. Newman and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-09-20 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's Darwin got to do with it? When it comes to evolution, quite a bit! But many people don't understand Darwin, creationism and intelligent design. Here's a book that makes sense of it all! A group of scholars, teachers, writers and illustrators have teamed up to create an easy-to-read introduction and critique to this important issue. You'll enjoy the lively and funny conversation that unfolds between two professors and they explore what science can explain about life. You'll find out what logic has to do with it. You'll see whether the changing beak sizes of Galapagos Islands finches prove Darwinism. And you'll enjoy the adventures of Darwinian superstars "Mutaman" and "Selecta." There's more to it all than you ever thought. But this witty and wise book makes it easier to understand than ever before!
Download or read book Shaking the Foundation written by Sylvia A. Johnson and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I cannot think that the world, as we see it, is the result of chance; & yet I cannot look at each separate thing as the result of design." English naturalist Charles Darwin wrote this in 1860, a year after publishing his theory of evolution. His words show the personal struggle of a man forced by his own observations to answer the fundamental question—Where do we come from?—in a revolutionary new way. Darwin's internal battle reflects a broader public struggle—the attempt to reconcile scientific fact with religious faith. Shaking the Foundation: Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution follows this battle, from the supporting theories of fellow scientists, to the opposing voices of clergymen, to twenty-first-century supporters of Intelligent Design. Through quotations from letters and other contemporary sources, you'll meet the personalities and ideas involved in the debate. You'll also examine some of the legal cases that brought evolution into the U.S. courtroom. These cases include the famous Scopes trial in 1925 and the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case in 2005, which tested a school policy requiring the teaching of Intelligent Design. Through these and other debates, you'll learn more about the struggle over one of life's most profound questions.
