| Description |
1 online resource (259 pages) |
| Contents |
Part one: A progressive orientation: naturalism as exploration -- The vividness of truth: Darwin's romantic rhetoric and the evolutionary framework -- Our most vexing problem: conceptual conservatism and conceptual imperialism -- Naturalism as exploration: the elements of reform -- Part two: The allure of agency: "purpose" in biology -- The real heart of Darwinian evolutionary biology -- A formative power of a self-propagating kind: natural purposes and the concept location project -- A persistent mode of understanding: the psychological power of "purpose" -- Part three: The illusions of agency: "free will" and "moral responsibility" -- The death of an aphorism: the psychology of free will -- The bare possibility of our opinion: libertarian imperialism -- Words give us a special ability: compatibilist conservatism |
| Summary |
Being human while trying to scientifically study human nature confronts us with our most vexing problem. Efforts to explicate the human mind are thwarted by our cultural biases and entrenched infirmities; our first-person experiences as practical agents convince us that we have capacities beyond the reach of scientific explanation. What we need to move forward in our understanding of human agency, Paul Sheldon Davies argues, is a reform in the way we study ourselves and a long overdue break with traditional humanist thinking. Davies locates a model for change in the rhetorical strategies emplo |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-251) and index |
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Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 -- Literary style
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| SUBJECT |
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 fast |
| Subject |
Teleology.
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Philosophy of nature.
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Evolution.
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Agent (Philosophy)
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PHILOSOPHY -- Epistemology.
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Agent (Philosophy)
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Evolution
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Philosophy of nature
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Literary style
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Teleology
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780226137643 |
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0226137643 |
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0226137627 |
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9780226137629 |
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