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Author: Michael Shermer Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand ISBN: 0195148304 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 443
Book Description
A biography of the English naturalist covers his work in natural history, his relationship with Darwin, and his contribution to evolutionary theory.
Author: Michael Shermer Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand ISBN: 0195148304 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 443
Book Description
A biography of the English naturalist covers his work in natural history, his relationship with Darwin, and his contribution to evolutionary theory.
Author: Michael Shermer Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780198033813 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 448
Book Description
Virtually unknown today, Alfred Russel Wallace was the co-discoverer of natural selection with Charles Darwin and an eminent scientist who stood out among his Victorian peers as a man of formidable mind and equally outsized personality. Now Michael Shermer rescues Wallace from the shadow of Darwin in this landmark biography. Here we see Wallace as perhaps the greatest naturalist of his age--spending years in remote jungles, collecting astounding quantities of specimens, writing thoughtfully and with bemused detachment at his reception in places where no white man had ever gone. Here, too, is his supple and forceful intelligence at work, grappling with such arcane problems as the bright coloration of caterpillars, or shaping his 1858 paper on natural selection that prompted Darwin to publish (with Wallace) the first paper outlining the theory of evolution. Shermer also shows that Wallace's self-trained intellect, while powerful, also embraced surprisingly naive ideas, such as his deep interest in the study of spiritual manifestations and seances. Shermer shows that the same iconoclastic outlook that led him to overturn scientific orthodoxy as he worked in relative isolation also led him to embrace irrational beliefs, and thus tarnish his reputation. As author of Why People Believe Weird Things and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, Shermer is an authority on why people embrace the irrational. Now he turns his keen judgment and incisive analysis to Wallace's life and his contradictory beliefs, restoring a leading figure in the rise of modern science to his rightful place.
Author: Michael Shermer Publisher: Macmillan ISBN: 1429900903 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 230
Book Description
A creationist-turned-scientist demonstrates the facts of evolution and exposes Intelligent Design's real agenda Science is on the defensive. Half of Americans reject the theory of evolution and "Intelligent Design" campaigns are gaining ground. Classroom by classroom, creationism is overthrowing biology. In Why Darwin Matters, bestselling author Michael Shermer explains how the newest brand of creationism appeals to our predisposition to look for a designer behind life's complexity. Shermer decodes the scientific evidence to show that evolution is not "just a theory" and illustrates how it achieves the design of life through the bottom-up process of natural selection. Shermer, once an evangelical Christian and a creationist, argues that Intelligent Design proponents are invoking a combination of bad science, political antipathy, and flawed theology. He refutes their pseudoscientific arguments and then demonstrates why conservatives and people of faith can and should embrace evolution. He then appraises the evolutionary questions that truly need to be settled, building a powerful argument for science itself. Cutting the politics away from the facts, Why Darwin Matters is an incisive examination of what is at stake in the debate over evolution.
Author: Manfred Velden Publisher: V&R unipress GmbH ISBN: 3899717783 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 124
Book Description
Evolutionary Psychology, an offspring of Sociobiology, claims to explain human mental (psychological) functions on the basis of evolution theory. Researchers in the field try to monopolize Darwin for their purpose by calling themselves Darwinists or by putting his portrait on the cover of their books. It is shown that Darwin, who actually tried to explain some human behavior, like altruistic behavior, in the context of evolution theory, found the intellectual and moral faculties to be predominantly shaped by sociocultural, not biological factors, however. It is also shown that the tendency to reduce mental functions to biological ones, biologism, affects many fields of inquiry to their detriment, such as education, criminology, psychiatry, or philology. Biologism's dehumanizing effect on our view of the human condition is the dominant topic of the book.
Author: John Parrington Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 0199688737 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 263
Book Description
Mapping the human genome proved to be just the beginning in understanding our genes, what makes us human, and how we can use the knowledge to cure inherited diseases. John Parrington describes an emerging picture of our genome, in 3D, with many non-gene players and environmental influences, that is far more complex and subtle than we ever imagined.
Author: B. Alan Wallace Publisher: Columbia University Press ISBN: 0231158351 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is nothing more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior. Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore human nature and to transcend it. He begins by explaining the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace also proves that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will liberate us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to Indian Buddhist philosophy’s four schools and the Great Perfection school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and that the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through the maintenance of exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and he concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for realizing the full nature, origins, and potential of consciousness.
Author: George T. Farmos Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 9781462823659 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 124
Book Description
In the Shadow of Infamy is born out of life experiences in the shadow of Communist paradise created by the Stalinist dictatorship. Author George Farmos was born in Slovakia during a time when Darwinism would be unleashed in the most unanticipated way. Not to believe what the Communist Party championed was considered ignorant, reactionary, and deserving of punishment. Individuals were forced to sacrifice their rights on the altar of collective fairness. Farmos writes this book to illustrate a chilling parallel between Communism and progressive liberalization of America, under governments leadership, in the name of science.
Author: Michael Shermer
Author: Michael Shermer
Author: Michael Shermer
Author: Michael Shermer
Author: Manfred Velden
Author: Sherrie Lynne Lyons
Author: Ulrich Kutschera
Author: John Parrington
Author: B. Alan Wallace
Author: George T. Farmos
Author: