Beyond Evolution

Human Nature and the Limits of Evolutionary Explanation
Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-19-824254-3
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 533 g

Anthony O'Hear takes a stand against the fashion for explaining human behaviour in terms of evolution. He maintains, controversially, that while the theory of evolution is successful in explaining the development of the natural world in general, it is of limited value when applied to the human world. Because of our reflectiveness and our rationality we take on goals and ideals which cannot be justified in terms of survival-promotion or reproductive advantage.
O'Hear examines the nature of human self-consciousness, and argues that evolutionary theory cannot give a satisfactory account of such distinctive facets of human life as the quest for knowledge, moral sense, and the appreciation of beauty; in these we transcend our biological origins. It is our
rationality that allows each of us to go beyond not only our biological but also our cultural inheritance: as the author says in the Preface, `we are prisoners neither of our genes nor of the ideas we encounter as we each make our personal and individual way through life'.

Autoren/Hrsg.

O'Hear, Anthony

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Exobiologie, Astrobiologie, Xenobiologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Soziobiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Exobiologie, Astrobiologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie

Über Autor(innen)

Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bradford, and Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.