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Darwin's Legacy: What Evolution Means Today

Name: Darwin's Legacy: What Evolution Means Today
Author: John Dupre
ISBN: 9780199284214

by John Dupre, John Dupr

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Overview

The theory of evolution has fundamentally changed our view of the universe and our place in it. By providing a radically new vision of the origin of human beings, it challenged long-held assumptions about our own significance and undermined the major arguments for the existence of God. But almost 150 years after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species these implications are still not properly understood, and in some sectors of society they are actively resisted.
The last decade has also seen the rise of a new field, evolutionary psychology, which takes the theory of evolution to provide insight into aspects of human culture and behaviour as diverse as language, morality, sexuality, and art.
This book shows that although there are particular aspects of the theory of evolution which remain controversial, and issues still to be settled, there can no longer be any doubt that the basis of the theory is true. It examines the consequences for our view of human nature, religion, and non-human animals. John Dupré then investigates the appropriation of evolutionary biology by psychologists, and argues that their claims are largely spurious: despite its status as one of the most important scientific ideas of all time, the theory of evolution has very little to tell us about the details of human nature and human behavior.

Synopsis

Duprè (philosophy of biology, U. of Exeter) investigates what the theory of evolution tells people about themselves and their world, and why anyone but biologists should care about it. He concludes that it has momentous consequences for humans' view of themselves and their place in the universe, but little value in illuminating human nature. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

About the Author, John Dupre

John A. Dupré is Professor of Philosophy of Science & Director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter. He lectures extensively in the U.K., North America, and Europe. His main area of research is the philosophy of science with special interest in the philosophy of biology, the role of values in science, and the nature of biological species. His books include Human Nature and the Limits of Science (OUP).