Download or read book Darwinian Misadventures in the Humanities written by Eugene Goodheart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades the humanities have been in thrall to postmodern skepticism, while Darwinists, brimming with confidence in the genuine progress they have made in the sciences of biology and psychology, have set their sights on rescuing the humanities from the ravages of postmodernism. In this volume, Eugene Goodheart attacks the neo-Darwinist approach to the arts and articulates a powerful defense of humanist criticism. E. O. Wilson, the distinguished Harvard biologist, has spoken of converting philosophy into science, substituting science for religion, and formulating a biological theory of literature and the arts in Consilence: The Unity of Knowledge. Goodheart demonstrates that Wilson's efforts, and those of his colleagues Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and Daniel Dennett among others, have resulted in scientism rather than science. If, for example, Dawkins had contented himself in The Selfish Gene with the claim that Darwinism had made worthless other answers to the question of how we have evolved, he would have given offense only to creationists, but questions of meaning and purpose are of another order. Contemporary Darwinist critiques err in assuming that art and traditional criticism aspire to truths that can be codified in terms of scientific laws. If this were so, we would have to regard the speculations of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Montaigne, Shakespeare, and Rousseau as worthless. Goodheart exposes the philistinism of literary Darwinism, the bad faith and inverted fundamentalism of the Darwinian approach to religion, and the dangers of the eff ort to create a Darwinian ethical system. Taken together, Goodheart's arguments show that in moving beyond their area of competence, the neo -Darwinists commit an ideology, not a science.
Download or read book Reading Human Nature written by Joseph Carroll and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the founder and leading practitioner of "literary Darwinism," Joseph Carroll remains at the forefront of a major movement in literary studies. Signaling key new developments in this approach, Reading Human Nature contains trenchant theoretical essays, innovative empirical research, sweeping surveys of intellectual history, and sophisticated interpretations of specific literary works, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wuthering Heights, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Hamlet. Evolutionists in the social sciences have succeeded in delineating basic motives but have given far too little attention to the imagination. Carroll makes a compelling case that literary Darwinism is not just another "school" or movement in literary theory. It is the moving force in a fundamental paradigm change in the humanities—a revolution. Psychologists and anthropologists have provided massive evidence that human motives and emotions are rooted in human biology. Since motives and emotions enter into all the products of a human imagination, humanists now urgently need to assimilate a modern scientific understanding of "human nature." Integrating evolutionary social science with literary humanism, Carroll offers a more complete and adequate understanding of human nature.
Download or read book Darwin s Bridge written by Joseph Carroll and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin's Bridge: Uniting the Humanities and Sciences explores the meaning of consilience and considers the unity of human evolution, human nature, social dynamics, art, and narrative. Bringing together cutting-edge scientists and scholars across a range of fields of knowledge production, this volume makes it possible to see how far we have come toward unifying knowledge about the human species, what major issues are still in contention, and what areas of research are likely to produce further progress.
Download or read book International Conference on Humanity and Social Science ICHSS2014 written by and published by DEStech Publications, Inc. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conference will be held in Guangzhou, China during June 29-30, 2014. The aim objective of ichss2014 is to present the latest research and results of scientists related to Humanity and Social Science topics. This conference provides opportunities for the different areas delegates to exchange new ideas and application experiences face to face, to establish business or research relations and to find global partners for future collaboration. We hope that the conference results constituted significant contribution to the knowledge in these up to date scientific field. ichss2014 is supposed to be the largest technical event on Humanity and Social Science in Guangzhou in 2014. The focus of the conference is to establish an effective platform for institutions and industries to share ideas and to present the works of scientists, engineers, educators and students from all over the world. The organizing committee of conference is pleased to invite prospective authors to submit their original manuscripts to ichss2014. As preparation for ICSS2014, hundreds of contributions were received and reviewed. Most of these contributions have brought us a new possible solution to our problems; some of them can even be called as a breakthrough. All these researches have been included in this book. I believe it will be of great value to your future study.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Literature written by Noël Carroll and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-07 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Literature is an in-depth examination of literature through a philosophical lens, written by distinguished figures across the major divisions of philosophy. Its 40 newly-commissioned essays are divided into six sections: historical foundations what is literature? aesthetics & appreciation meaning & interpretation metaphysics & epistemology ethics & political theory The Companion opens with a comprehensive historical overview of the philosophy of literature, including chapters on the study’s ancient origins up to the 18th-20th centuries. The second part defines literature and its different categories. The third part covers the aesthetics of literature. The fourth and fifth sections discuss the meaning and consequences of philosophical interpretation of literature, as well as epistemological and metaphysical issues such as literary cognitivism and imaginative resistance. The sixth section contextualizes the place of philosophy of literature in the "real world" with essays on topics such as morality, politics, race and gender. Fully indexed, with helpful further reading sections at the end of each chapter, this Companion is an ideal starting point for those coming to philosophy of literature for the first time as well as a valuable reference for readers more familiar with the subject.
Download or read book Nonsense on Stilts written by Massimo Pigliucci and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-10-05 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This crash course in critical thinking . . . includes handy rules for evaluating the confused public discourse on climate change, evolution, and even UFOs.” —Discover Recent polls suggest that fewer than forty percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about forty percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, including many political leaders. In this era of fake news and alternative facts, there is more bunk than ever. But why do people believe in it? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? In this fully revised second edition, noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in an entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. Broad in scope and implication, Nonsense on Stilts is a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will shape the future of our planet. “Brilliant . . . required reading for, well, everyone.” —New Scientist
Download or read book The Artful Species Aesthetics Art and Evolution written by Stephen Davies and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Artful Species explores the idea that our aesthetic responses and art behaviors are connected to our evolved human nature. Our humanoid forerunners displayed aesthetic sensibilities hundreds of thousands of years ago and the art standing of prehistoric cave paintings is virtually uncontested. In Part One, Stephen Davies analyses the key concepts of the aesthetic, art, and evolution, and explores how they might be related. He considers a range of issues,including whether animals have aesthetic tastes and whether art is not only universal but cross-culturally comprehensible. Part Two examines the many aesthetic interests humans take in animals and how these reflect our biological interests, and the idea that our environmental and landscape preferences arerooted in the experiences of our distant ancestors. In considering the controversial subject of human beauty, evolutionary psychologists have traditionally focused on female physical attractiveness in the context of mate selection, but Davies presents a broader view which decouples human beauty from mate choice and explains why it goes more with social performance and self-presentation. Part Three asks if the arts, together or singly, are biological adaptations, incidental byproducts of nonartadaptations, or so removed from biology that they rate as purely cultural technologies. Davies does not conclusively support any one of the many positions considered here, but argues that there are grounds, nevertheless, for seeing art as part of human nature. Art serves as a powerful and complexsignal of human fitness, and so cannot be incidental to biology. Indeed, aesthetic responses and art behaviors are the touchstones of our humanity.
Download or read book A Biocultural Approach to Literary Theory and Interpretation written by Nancy Easterlin and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Biocultural Approach to Literary Theory and Interpretation offers a fresh and reasoned approach to literary studies that at once preserves the central importance that interpretation plays in the humanities and embraces the exciting developments of the cognitive sciences.
Download or read book The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology Volume 2 written by David M. Buss and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete exploration of the real-world applications and implications of evolutionary psychology The exciting and sometimes controversial science of evolutionary psychology is becoming increasingly relevant to more fields of study than ever before. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 2, Integrations provides students and researchers with new insight into how EP draws from, and is applied in, fields as diverse as economics, anthropology, neuroscience, genetics, and political science, among others. In this thorough revision and expansion of the groundbreaking handbook, luminaries in the field provide an in-depth exploration of the foundations of evolutionary psychology as they relate to public policy, consumer behavior, organizational leadership, and legal issues. Evolutionary psychology seeks to explain the reasons behind friendship, leadership, warfare, morality, religion, and culture — in short, what it means to be human. This enlightening text provides a foundational knowledgebase in EP, along with expert insights and the most up-to-date coverage of recent theories and findings. Explore the vast and expanding applications of evolutionary psychology Discover the psychology of human survival, mating parenting, cooperation and conflict, culture, and more Identify how evolutionary psychology is interwoven with other academic subjects and traditional psychological disciplines Discuss future applications of the conceptual tools of evolutionary psychology As the established standard in the field, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 2 is the definitive guide for every psychologist and student to understand the latest and most exciting applications of evolutionary psychology.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to American Novelists written by Timothy Parrish and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides newly commissioned essays from leading scholars and critics on the social and cultural history of the novel in America. It explores the work of the most influential American novelists of the past 200 years, including Melville, Twain, James, Wharton, Cather, Faulkner, Ellison, Pynchon, and Morrison.
Download or read book Literature Analytically Speaking written by Peter Swirski and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a new approach to interdisciplinary literary theory, Literature, Analytically Speaking integrates literary studies with analytic aesthetics, girded by neo-Darwinian evolution. Scrutinizing narrative fiction through a lens provided by analytic philosophy, revered literary theorist Peter Swirski puts new life into literary theory while fashioning a set of practical guidelines for critics in the interpretive trenches. Dismissing critical inquirers who deny intention its key role in the study of literary reception, Swirski extends the defense of intentionality to art and to human behavior in general. In the process, Swirski takes stock of the recent work in evolutionary theory, arguing that the analysis of narrative truth may be grounded in the neo-Darwinian paradigm which forms the empirical backbone behind his analytic approach. Literature, Analytically Speaking provides a series of precepts designed to capture the ways in which we do interpret (and ought to interpret) works of literature. Reflecting a resounding shift from the poststructuralist paradigm, Swirski's lively and colorful presentation, backed up by a dazzling variety of examples and case studies, reconceptualizes the aesthetics of literature and literary studies.
Download or read book AfterWord written by Dale Salwak and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains imaginary interviews with deceased British and American authors, including Samuel Johnson, Henry James, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, William Faulkner, and others.
Download or read book The New York Public Intellectuals and Beyond written by Ethan Goffman and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, a variety of distinguished scholars revisit and rethink the legacy of the New York intellectuals, showing how this small, predominantly Jewish group moved from communist and socialist roots to become a primary voice of liberal humanism and, in the case of a few, to launch a new conservative movement.
Download or read book Choice written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Darwin s Dreampond written by Tijs Goldschmidt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin's Dreampondtells the evolutionary story of the extraordinary "furu" and the battlefield leading to extinction. Tijs Goldschmidt skillfully blends a masterful discussion of the principles of neo-Darwinian evolution and speciation with a history of Lake Victoria's ecosystem. The science unfolds in the context of the engaging first-person narrative of Goldschmidt's adventures and misadventures as a field researcher. An astute observer and a clear and witty writer, he warmly portrays the colors and textures of the landscapes and the lives of the local people as he interacts with them during the course of his fieldwork.
Download or read book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens written by Eugene Goodheart and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the individual author's entire body of work and on his/her single works of literature.
Download or read book Ernest Hemingway written by Eugene Goodheart and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the individual author's entire body of work and on his/her single works of literature.
