Download or read book Darwinian Evolution and Classical Liberalism written by Stephen C. Dilley and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwinian Evolution and Classical Liberalism canvasses an array of thinkers from the past to the present as it examines fundamental political, philosophical, ethical, economic, anthropological, and scientific aspects of the ferment between Darwinian biology and classical liberalism. Early chapters focus on classical thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith, while later chapters provide analyses of present-day classical liberals, focusing especially on F.A. Hayek, Thomas Sowell, and Larry Arnhart, the most prominent advocates of ‘contemporary’ classical liberalism. Thematically, the volume falls into three parts. Part I examines foundational matters, arguing that Darwinism and classical liberalism hold incompatible visions of morality, human nature, and individual autonomy. This section also contends that the free market’s spontaneous order is fully compatible with a teleological (or non-Darwinian) view of the universe. Part II turns to contemporary applications, contending that Darwinism and classical liberalism are at odds in their views of (or implications about) limited government, vital religion, economic freedom, and the traditional family. This section also argues that, since its inception, Darwinism has attenuated core tenets and values of classical liberalism and Western civilization. Part III of the volume contains alternative views to those in the first two parts, adding critical diversity to the book. Respectively, these chapters hold that Darwinian evolution simply has little to say about classical liberalism; an evolutionary account of human volition is fully compatible with the individual choice presupposed in classical liberalism; and evolutionary naturalism, unlike religious alternatives, provides a strong foundation for freedom, morality, and the traditional family.
Download or read book Darwinian Science and Classical Liberalism written by Stephen C. Dilley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the relationship between Darwinian science and classical liberalism, past and present. The volume begins with chapters examining classical thinkers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith. Later chapters provide analyses of present-day classical liberals, focusing especially on F.A. Hayek, Thomas Sowell, and Larry Arnhart, the most prominent advocates of 'contemporary' classical liberalism. Thematically, the volume falls into three parts. The first section examines foundational topics, arguing that Darwinism and classical liberalism hold incompatible visions of morality, human volition, individual autonomy, and the origin of order in economics and biology. The second section turns to contemporary applications, contending that Darwinism and classical liberalism are at odds in their views of (or implications about) limited government, vital religion, economic freedom, and the traditional family. This section also argues that, historically, Darwinian theory negatively impacted classical liberalism and Western civilization. The final section of the volume contains alternative perspectives to the views expressed in the first two sections. These chapters hold that Darwinian science simply has little to say about classical liberalism, an evolutionary account of human consciousness and volition is fully compatible with the individual choice presupposed in classical liberalism, and evolutionary science, unlike religious alternatives, provides a strong foundation for freedom, morality, and the traditional family.
Download or read book Darwinian Conservatism written by Kenneth C. Blanchard Jr. and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reprint of Larry Arnhart's essay Darwinian Conservatism with comment and criticism from a variety of contributors.
Download or read book Darwinian Conservatism written by Larry Arnhart and published by Imprint Academic (Ips). This book was released on 2009 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reprint of Larry Arnhart's essay Darwinian Conservatism, this edition features comments and criticism from a variety of contributors.
Download or read book Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School written by Ralph Raico and published by Ludwig von Mises Institute. This book was released on 2012 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Darwinian Left written by Peter Singer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-03-11 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this ground-breaking book, a renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature. He shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory, particularly on the evolution of cooperation, can help the left attain its social and political goals. Singer explains why the left originally rejected Darwinian thought and why these reasons are no longer viable. He discusses how twentieth-century thinking has transformed our understanding of Darwinian evolution, showing that it is compatible with cooperation as well as competition, and that the left can draw on this modern understanding to foster cooperation for socially desirable ends. A Darwinian left, says Singer, would still be on the side of the weak, poor, and oppressed, but it would have a better understanding of what social and economic changes would really work to benefit them. It would also work toward a higher moral status for nonhuman animals and a less anthropocentric view of our dominance over nature.
Download or read book Political Descent written by Piers J. Hale and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians of science have long noted the influence of the nineteenth-century political economist Thomas Robert Malthus on Charles Darwin. In a bold move, Piers J. Hale contends that this focus on Malthus and his effect on Darwin’s evolutionary thought neglects a strong anti-Malthusian tradition in English intellectual life, one that not only predated the 1859 publication of the Origin of Species but also persisted throughout the Victorian period until World War I. Political Descent reveals that two evolutionary and political traditions developed in England in the wake of the 1832 Reform Act: one Malthusian, the other decidedly anti-Malthusian and owing much to the ideas of the French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck. These two traditions, Hale shows, developed in a context of mutual hostility, debate, and refutation. Participants disagreed not only about evolutionary processes but also on broader questions regarding the kind of creature our evolution had made us and in what kind of society we ought therefore to live. Significantly, and in spite of Darwin’s acknowledgement that natural selection was “the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms,” both sides of the debate claimed to be the more correctly “Darwinian.” By exploring the full spectrum of scientific and political issues at stake, Political Descent offers a novel approach to the relationship between evolution and political thought in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Download or read book This View of Life written by David Sloan Wilson and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly—to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.” In a series of engaging and insightful examples—from the breeding of hens to the timing of cataract surgeries to the organization of an automobile plant—Wilson shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical tool kit for understanding not only genetic evolution but also the fast-paced changes that are having an impact on our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: If we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales—from the efficacy of our groups to our well-being as individuals to our stewardship of the planet Earth.
Download or read book Darwinian Conservatism written by Larry Arnhart and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Left has traditionally assumed that human nature is so malleable, so perfectible, that it can be shaped in almost any direction. Conservatives object, arguing that social order arises not from rational planning but from the spontaneous order of instincts and habits. Darwinian biology sustains conservative social thought by showing how the human capacity for spontaneous order arises from social instincts and a moral sense shaped by natural selection in human evolutionary history.
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 Darwin Economy written by Robert H. Frank and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-16 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that ecologist Charles Darwin's understanding of competition describes economic reality far more accurately than economist Adam Smith's theories ever did.
Download or read book Theories of International Relations written by Stephanie Lawson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the field of International Relations was established almost a century ago, many different theoretical approaches have been developed, each offering distinctive accounts of the world, why it has come to be the way it is, and how it might be made a better place. In this illuminating textbook, leading IR scholar, Stephanie Lawson, examines each of these theories in turn, from political realism in its various forms to liberalism, Marxism, critical theory and more recent contributions from social theory, feminism, postcolonialism and green theory. Taking as her focus the major practical issues facing scholars of international relations today, Lawson ably shows how each theory relates to situations ?on the ground?. Each chapter features case studies, questions for discussion to encourage reflection and classroom debate, guides to further reading and web resources. The study of IR is a profoundly normative enterprise, and each theoretical school has its strengths and weaknesses. Theories of International Relations encourages a critical, reflective approach to the study of IR theory, while emphasising the many important and interesting things it has to teach us about the complexities and challenges of international politics today.
Download or read book Darwin s Dice written by Curtis N. Johnson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Discusses the chance and randomness as motifs in the writing of Charles Darwin" --publisher
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 Political Questions written by Larry Arnhart and published by Waveland Press. This book was released on 2015-08-28 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this enhanced edition, Larry Arnhart continues to ask thought-provoking questions that illuminate the philosophies of some of the most prominent political thinkers throughout history. This clear, well-written guide is an ideal supplement to the original texts he recommends at the beginning of each chapter. In addition to his analysis of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Rawls, the author’s well-organized and insightful approach provides an even more comprehensive overview than the earlier editions: • Supplementing the discussion of Leviathan, the chapter on Thomas Hobbes covers Behemoth. • The chapter on John Locke includes his Letter Concerning Toleration as well as the original discussion of Second Treatise of Government. • A chapter on Adam Smith has been added, which discusses Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations. • Leo Strauss is featured, with an examination of Persecution and the Art of Writing and Natural Right and History. • A final chapter analyzes Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature.
Download or read book Economics and Other Disciplines written by Ricardo F. Crespo and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the second half of the twentieth century, economics exported its logic – utility maximization – to the analysis of several human activities or realities: a tendency that has been called “economic imperialism”. This book explores the concept termed by John Davis as “reverse imperialism”, whereby economics has been seen in recent years to have taken in elements from other disciplines. Economics and Other Disciplines sheds light on the current state and possible future development of economics by focusing on it from a philosophical perspective, broadening the concept of rationality in economic theory. The beliefs that prevail in the world today make up a physicalist worldview. This book argues that this pervasive view is harmful for economics as a social science. Do new economic currents like behavioral economics, evolutionary economics, neuroeconomics, institutional economics, happiness economics, the capability approach and civil economy, escape this widespread mentality? What would be an adequate underlying economic ethos? Do these approaches fit into this ethos? Ricardo F. Crespo appraises the contributions from a classical philosophy angle, emphasizing their implications regarding practical reason. This volume is of great importance to those who are interested in political economy, economic theory and philosophy, as well as philosophy of social science.
Download or read book Skepticism and Freedom written by Richard A. Epstein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-06 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With this book, Richard A. Epstein provides a spirited and systematic defense of classical liberalism against the critiques mounted against it over the past thirty years. One of the most distinguished and provocative legal scholars writing today, Epstein here explains his controversial ideas in what will quickly come to be considered one of his cornerstone works. He begins by laying out his own vision of the key principles of classical liberalism: respect for the autonomy of the individual, a strong system of private property rights, the voluntary exchange of labor and possessions, and prohibitions against force or fraud. Nonetheless, he not only recognizes but insists that state coercion is crucial to safeguarding these principles of private ordering and supplying the social infrastructure on which they depend. Within this framework, Epstein then shows why limited government is much to be preferred over the modern interventionist welfare state. Many of the modern attacks on the classical liberal system seek to undermine the moral, conceptual, cognitive, and psychological foundations on which it rests. Epstein rises to this challenge by carefully rebutting each of these objections in turn. For instance, Epstein demonstrates how our inability to judge the preferences of others means we should respect their liberty of choice regarding their own lives. And he points out the flaws in behavioral economic arguments which, overlooking strong evolutionary pressures, claim that individual preferences are unstable and that people are unable to adopt rational means to achieve their own ends. Freedom, Epstein ultimately shows, depends upon a skepticism that rightly shuns making judgments about what is best for individuals, but that also avoids the relativistic trap that all judgments about our political institutions have equal worth. A brilliant defense of classical liberalism, Skepticism and Freedom will rightly be seen as an intellectual landmark.
