The Evolution Of Reason

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The Evolution of Reason

Author : William S. Cooper
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521540254
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Reason by : William S. Cooper

Download or read book The Evolution of Reason written by William S. Cooper and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The formal systems of logic have ordinarily been regarded as independent of biology, but recent developments in evolutionary theory suggest that biology and logic may be intimately interrelated. In this book, William Cooper outlines a theory of rationality in which logical law emerges as an intrinsic aspect of evolutionary biology. This biological perspective on logic, though at present unorthodox, could change traditional ideas about the reasoning process. Cooper examines the connections between logic and evolutionary biology and illustrates how logical rules are derived directly from evolutionary principles, and therefore have no independent status of their own. Laws of decision theory, utility theory, induction, and deduction are reinterpreted as natural consequences of evolutionary processes. Cooper's connection of logical law to evolutionary theory ultimately results in a unified foundation for an evolutionary science of reason. It will be of interest to professionals and students of philosophy of science, logic, evolutionary theory, and cognitive science.

Why Evolution is True

Author : Jerry A. Coyne
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 019164384X
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Evolution is True by : Jerry A. Coyne

Download or read book Why Evolution is True written by Jerry A. Coyne and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.

The Enigma of Reason

Author : Hugo Mercier
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067497784X
Total Pages : 405 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

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Book Synopsis The Enigma of Reason by : Hugo Mercier

Download or read book The Enigma of Reason written by Hugo Mercier and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Brilliant...Timely and necessary.” —Financial Times “Especially timely as we struggle to make sense of how it is that individuals and communities persist in holding beliefs that have been thoroughly discredited.” —Darren Frey, Science If reason is what makes us human, why do we behave so irrationally? And if it is so useful, why didn’t it evolve in other animals? This groundbreaking account of the evolution of reason by two renowned cognitive scientists seeks to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue, helps us justify our beliefs, convince others, and evaluate arguments. It makes it easier to cooperate and communicate and to live together in groups. Provocative, entertaining, and undeniably relevant, The Enigma of Reason will make many reasonable people rethink their beliefs. “Reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant...Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?...Cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber [argue that] reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems...[but] to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker “Turns reason’s weaknesses into strengths, arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well.” —Financial Times “The best thing I have read about human reasoning. It is extremely well written, interesting, and very enjoyable to read.” —Gilbert Harman, Princeton University

The Roots of Reason

Author : David Papineau
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199288712
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis The Roots of Reason by : David Papineau

Download or read book The Roots of Reason written by David Papineau and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-26 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Papineau presents a controversial view of human reason, portraying it as a normal part of the natural world, and drawing on the empirical sciences to illuminate its workings. In these six interconnected essays he offers a fresh approach to some long-standing problems.Papineau rejects the contemporary orthodoxy that genuine thought hinges on some species of non-natural normativity. He explores the evolutionary histories of theoretical and practical rationality, indicating ways in which capacities underlying human reasoning have been selected for their biological advantages. He then looks at the connection between decision and probability, explaining how good decisions need to be informed by causal as well as probabilistic facts. Finally he defends theradical view that a satisfactory understanding of decision-making is only possible within a specific interpretation of quantum mechanics.By placing the subject in its scientific context, Papineau shows how human rationality plays an explicable role in the functioning of the natural world.

The Evolution of Mind

Author : Denise D. Cummins
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195110531
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Mind by : Denise D. Cummins

Download or read book The Evolution of Mind written by Denise D. Cummins and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1998 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Evolution of Mind, outstanding figures on the cutting edge of evolutionary psychology follow clues provided by current neuroscientific evidence to illuminate many puzzling questions of human cognitive evolution. With contributions from psychologists, ethologists, anthropologists, and philosophers, the book offers a broad range of approaches to explore the mysteries of the mind's evolution - from investigating the biological functions of human cognition to drawing comparisons between human and animal cognitive abilities.

Evolution Gone Wrong

Author : Alex Bezzerides
Publisher : Harlequin
ISBN 13 : 1488075859
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Evolution Gone Wrong by : Alex Bezzerides

Download or read book Evolution Gone Wrong written by Alex Bezzerides and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An unforgettable journey through this twisted miracle of evolution we call ‘our body.’” —Spike Carlsen, author of A Walk Around the Block From blurry vision to crooked teeth, ACLs that tear at alarming rates and spines that seem to spend a lifetime falling apart, it’s a curious thing that human beings have beaten the odds as a species. After all, we’re the only survivors on our branch of the tree of life. The flaws in our makeup raise more than a few questions, and this detailed foray into the many twists and turns of our ancestral past includes no shortage of curiosity and humor to find the answers. Why is it that human mothers have such a life-endangering experience giving birth? Why are there entire medical specialties for teeth and feet? And why is it that human babies can’t even hold their heads up, but horses are trotting around minutes after they’re born? In this funny, wide-ranging and often surprising book, biologist Alex Bezzerides tells us just where we inherited our adaptable, achy, brilliant bodies in the process of evolution.

Thought Genesis

Author : David M. Sternberg
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 0595501338
Total Pages : 112 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (955 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Genesis by : David M. Sternberg

Download or read book Thought Genesis written by David M. Sternberg and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past few decades, the study of the mind has been radiated in the field of cognitive neuroscience by numerous breakthroughs. At last, scientists have the ability to explain in unparalleled detail the intricate processes taking place inside the human brain. This field of cognitive neuroscience gives us the right tools to decipher the protocols which spawn behaviors, and confirm that our conscious thought is ruled by physiological networks predisposed to their natural environment. In Thought Genesis, David M. Sternberg takes us through a fascinating multidisciplinary voyage to unearth the very origins of thought. Much like an astrophysicist observes distant celestial objects to look back in time to beginning of the world, Sternberg examines the behaviors of lesser but fascinating species and reveals the very first moments our ancestors became aware and conscious of their environment. With easy-to-understand language, Sternberg not only discusses how a simple yet fundamental consciousness evolved to the complex human mind, but also raises attractive philosophical conundrums that test the manners in which we perceive the world. Take a mesmerizing journey into the intricacy of human thought and expand your world with Thought Genesis.

The Roots of Reason

Author : David Papineau
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191516082
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis The Roots of Reason by : David Papineau

Download or read book The Roots of Reason written by David Papineau and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2006-01-26 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Papineau presents a controversial view of human reason, portraying it as a normal part of the natural world, and drawing on the empirical sciences to illuminate its workings. In these six interconnected essays he offers a fresh approach to some long-standing problems. Papineau rejects the contemporary orthodoxy that genuine thought hinges on some species of non-natural normativity. He explores the evolutionary histories of theoretical and practical rationality, indicating ways in which capacities underlying human reasoning have been selected for their biological advantages. He then looks at the connection between decision and probability, explaining how good decisions need to be informed by causal as well as probabilistic facts. Finally he defends the radical view that a satisfactory understanding of decision-making is only possible within a specific interpretation of quantum mechanics. By placing the subject in its scientific context, Papineau shows how human rationality plays an explicable role in the functioning of the natural world.

In the Light of Evolution

Author : National Academy of Sciences
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis In the Light of Evolution by : National Academy of Sciences

Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

Evolution, Chance, and God

Author : Brendan Sweetman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1628929863
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (289 download)

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Book Synopsis Evolution, Chance, and God by : Brendan Sweetman

Download or read book Evolution, Chance, and God written by Brendan Sweetman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolution, Chance, and God looks at the relationship between religion and evolution from a philosophical perspective. This relationship is fascinating, complex and often very controversial, involving myriad issues that are difficult to keep separate from each other. Evolution, Chance, and God introduces the reader to the main themes of this debate and to the theory of evolution, while arguing for a particular viewpoint, namely that evolution and religion are compatible, and that, contrary to the views of some influential thinkers, there is no chance operating in the theory of evolution, a conclusion that has great significance for teleology. One of the main aims of this book is not simply to critique one influential contemporary view that evolution and religion are incompatible, but to explore specific ways of how we might understand their compatibility, as well as the implications of evolution for religious belief. This involves an exploration of how and why God might have created by means of evolution, and what the consequences in particular are for the status of human beings in creation, and for issues such as free will, the objectivity of morality, and the problem of evil. By probing how the theory of evolution and religion could be reconciled, Sweetman says that we can address more deeply key foundational questions concerning chance, design, suffering and morality, and God's way of acting in and through creation.

The Evolution of Spirits

Author : Bahram Esmailzadeh M. Sc.
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1469168316
Total Pages : 469 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (691 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Spirits by : Bahram Esmailzadeh M. Sc.

Download or read book The Evolution of Spirits written by Bahram Esmailzadeh M. Sc. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Evolution of Spirits What is the Reason for Being Here, in This Creation? By Bahram Esmailzadeh, M.Sc. What is the reason for being here? Unlock the answer in The Evolution of Spirits. In this intriguing follow-up to his first book,Understanding the Creation, Esmailzadeh introduces a general theory for the creation, evolution and destiny of all spirits. The Evolution of Spirits directly deals with variety of spiritual phenomena and yet it is not related to any of the religions or philosophies. It reveals the authors curiosity, his extensive research and persistent personal contemplations on various spiritual phenomena. This book raises the most important question: What is the reason for being here? Esmailzadeh sheds light on this very matter. In this comprehensive blueprint he demonstrates how everything began, the objectives that must be met and how spirits may eventually accomplish their ultimate and common task. He begins by explaining the creation of the physical and the spiritual worlds and the specific laws that govern them. He follows with a discussion on how spirits evolve, as they go through their evolutionary path. He tells what will eventually become of all spirits, the physical world and the spiritual world. By applying the proposed theory, Esmailzadeh also provides consistent explanations for a variety of spiritual phenomena such as overlapping past lives, power of thought, spiritual healing, states of dreaming, trance and coma, sleep paralysis, spiritual guides, wandering and escorting spirits, evil eye and witchcraft, prophesying and fortune telling, sexuality, animal languages, psychopaths, seizures, cravings, multiple personalities, possessions and exorcism, ghosts and apparitions, astrology, as well as inspiration, imagination, intelligence, instincts, curiosity, memory, conscience and of course the source of the ever-growing number of human spirits. Thought-provoking and thoroughly engaging, The Evolution of Spirits clarifies issues that have challenged mans intelligence since the beginning of time.

Reason and Less

Author : Vinod Goel
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262045478
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Reason and Less by : Vinod Goel

Download or read book Reason and Less written by Vinod Goel and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new, biologically driven model of human behavior in which reason is tethered to the evolutionarily older autonomic, instinctive, and associative systems. In Reason and Less, Vinod Goel explains the workings of the tethered mind. Reason does not float on top of our biology but is tethered to evolutionarily older autonomic, instinctive, and associative systems. After describing the conceptual and neuroanatomical basis of each system, Goel shows how they interact to generate a blended response. Goel’s commonsense account drives human behavior back into the biology, where it belongs, and provides a richer set of tools for understanding how we pursue food, sex, and politics. Goel takes the reader on a journey through psychology (cognitive, behavioral, developmental, and evolutionary), neuroscience, philosophy, ethology, economics, and political science to explain the workings of the tethered mind. One key insight that holds everything together is that feelings—generated in old, widely conserved brain stem structures—are evolution’s solution to initiating and selecting all behaviors, and provide the common currency for the different systems to interact. Reason is as much about feelings as are lust and the taste of chocolate cake. All systems contribute to behavior and the overall control structure is one that maximizes pleasure and minimizes displeasure. Tethered rationality has some sobering and challenging implications for such real-world human behaviors as climate change denial, Trumpism, racism, or sexism. They cannot be changed simply by targeting beliefs but will require more drastic measures, the nature of which depends on the specific behavior in question. Having an accurate model of human behavior is the crucial first step.

The Philosophy of Human Evolution

Author : Michael Ruse
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521117933
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (211 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Human Evolution by : Michael Ruse

Download or read book The Philosophy of Human Evolution written by Michael Ruse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-12 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a unique discussion of human evolution from a philosophical viewpoint, covering such issues as religion, race and gender.

The Evolution of Beauty

Author : Richard O. Prum
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385537220
Total Pages : 435 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Beauty by : Richard O. Prum

Download or read book The Evolution of Beauty written by Richard O. Prum and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world. In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.

The Evolution of Morality

Author : Richard Joyce
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262263254
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Morality by : Richard Joyce

Download or read book The Evolution of Morality written by Richard Joyce and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007-08-24 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral thinking pervades our practical lives, but where did this way of thinking come from, and what purpose does it serve? Is it to be explained by environmental pressures on our ancestors a million years ago, or is it a cultural invention of more recent origin? In The Evolution of Morality, Richard Joyce takes up these controversial questions, finding that the evidence supports an innate basis to human morality. As a moral philosopher, Joyce is interested in whether any implications follow from this hypothesis. Might the fact that the human brain has been biologically prepared by natural selection to engage in moral judgment serve in some sense to vindicate this way of thinking—staving off the threat of moral skepticism, or even undergirding some version of moral realism? Or if morality has an adaptive explanation in genetic terms—if it is, as Joyce writes, "just something that helped our ancestors make more babies"—might such an explanation actually undermine morality's central role in our lives? He carefully examines both the evolutionary "vindication of morality" and the evolutionary "debunking of morality," considering the skeptical view more seriously than have others who have treated the subject. Interdisciplinary and combining the latest results from the empirical sciences with philosophical discussion, The Evolution of Morality is one of the few books in this area written from the perspective of moral philosophy. Concise and without technical jargon, the arguments are rigorous but accessible to readers from different academic backgrounds. Joyce discusses complex issues in plain language while advocating subtle and sometimes radical views. The Evolution of Morality lays the philosophical foundations for further research into the biological understanding of human morality.

The Evolution of Cognition

Author : Cecilia M. Heyes
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262082860
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (828 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Cognition by : Cecilia M. Heyes

Download or read book The Evolution of Cognition written by Cecilia M. Heyes and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last decade, "evolutionary psychology" has come to refer exclusively to research on human mentality and behavior, motivated by a nativist interpretation of how evolution operates. This book encompasses the behavior and mentality of nonhuman as well as human animals and a full range of evolutionary approaches. Rather than a collection by and for the like-minded, it is a debate about how evolutionary processes have shaped cognition. The debate is divided into five sections: Orientations, on the phylogenetic, ecological, and psychological/comparative approaches to the evolution of cognition; Categorization, on how various animals parse their environments, how they represent objects and events and the relations among them; Causality, on whether and in what ways nonhuman animals represent cause and effect relationships; Consciousness, on whether it makes sense to talk about the evolution of consciousness and whether the phenomenon can be investigated empirically in nonhuman animals; and Culture, on the cognitive requirements for nongenetic transmission of information and the evolutionary consequences of such cultural exchange. ContributorsBernard Balleine, Patrick Bateson, Michael J. Beran, M. E. Bitterman, Robert Boyd, Nicola Clayton, Juan Delius, Anthony Dickinson, Robin Dunbar, D.P. Griffiths, Bernd Heinrich, Cecilia Heyes, William A. Hillix, Ludwig Huber, Nicholas Humphrey, Masako Jitsumori, Louis Lefebvre, Nicholas Mackintosh, Euan M. Macphail, Peter Richerson, Duane M. Rumbaugh, Sara Shettleworth, Martina Siemann, Kim Sterelny, Michael Tomasello, Laura Weiser, Alexandra Wells, Carolyn Wilczynski, David Sloan Wilson

The New Psychology of Love

Author : Robert J. Sternberg
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 110847568X
Total Pages : 355 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Psychology of Love by : Robert J. Sternberg

Download or read book The New Psychology of Love written by Robert J. Sternberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a much-needed update on the latest theory and research on love supplied by leading scientific experts. It is suitable for psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and anyone with an interest in love and what has been learned from scientific studies of it.