Philosophical Positions & Movements - General & Miscellaneous, Free Will & Determinism, Natural Literature & History

Human Freedom after Darwin: A Critical Rationalist View

Name: Human Freedom after Darwin: A Critical Rationalist View
Author: John Watkins
ISBN: 9780812694079

by John Watkins

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Overview

A University of London philosopher argues that Darwin's discoveries have transformed concepts of human freedom. His account of humanity's place in nature presents an alternative to strict determinism that does not leave the physical world a plaything of chance.

Synopsis

Arguing that philosophical discussion of human freedom has been transformed by developments in modern science, especially evolutionary biology, the author outlines a naturalistic account of freedom and creativity by using examples from hypnosis, brainwashing, and creative leaps in thought.

Booknews

A leading proponent of the ideas of Karl Popper, Watkins (philosophy, U. of London) argues that philosophical discussion of human freedom has been transformed by developments in modern science, especially evolutionary biology. He offers and defends a strictly naturalistic account of freedom and creativity and tests it against examples of drug addiction, hypnosis, slavery, brainwashing, and creative leaps in thought.

About the Author, John Watkins

John Watkins was born in 1924 and became a career naval officer. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for torpedoing a German destroyer in 1944. After the war, he became a political scientist, though under the influence of Sir Karl Popper he switched to philosophy. He taught at the London School of Economics from 1950, Emeritus Professor since 1989. Watkins wrote over 100 articles and three influential books: Hobbes's System of Ideas (1965), Freiheit and Entscheidung (1978), and Science and Scepticism (1984). Following completion of Human Freedom after Darwin, Professor Watkins died suddenly while sailing his yawl Xantippe on the Salcombe Estuary, Devon, England.