Darwinism in Philosophy, Social Science and Policy

Darwinism in Philosophy, Social Science and Policy
Author: Alexander Rosenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2000-03-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521664073

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A collection of essays by Alexander Rosenberg, the distinguished philosopher of science. The essays cover three broad areas related to Darwinian thought and naturalism: the first deals with the solution of philosophical problems such as reductionism, the second with the development of social theories, and the third with the intersection of evolutionary biology with economics, political philosophy, and public policy. Specific papers deal with naturalistic epistemology, the limits of reductionism, the biological justification of ethics, the so-called 'trolley problem' in moral philosophy, the political philosophy of biological endowments, and the Human Genome Project and its implications for policy. Rosenberg's important writings on a variety of issues are here organized into a coherent philosophical framework which promises to be a significant and controversial contribution to scholarship in many areas.

Philosophy Of Social Science

Philosophy Of Social Science
Author: Alexander Rosenberg
Publisher: Westview Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1995-10-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

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This is an expanded and thoroughly revised edition of the widely adopted introduction to the philosophical foundations of the human sciences. Ranging from cultural anthropology to mathematical economics, Alexander Rosenberg leads the reader through behaviorism, naturalism, interpretativism about human action, and macrosocial scientific perspectives, illuminating the motivation and strategy of each.Rewritten throughout to increase accessibility, this new edition retains the remarkable achievement of revealing the social sciences' enduring relation to the fundamental problems of philosophy. It includes new discussions of positivism, European philosophy of history, causation, statistical laws, quantitative models, and postempiricist social science, along with a completely updated literature guide that keys chapters to widely anthologized papers.

Evolution 2.0

Evolution 2.0
Author: Martin Brinkworth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2011-10-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3642204961

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These essays by leading philosophers and scientists focus on recent ideas at the forefront of modern Darwinism, showcasing and exploring the challenges they raise as well as open problems. This interdisciplinary volume is unique in that it addresses the key notions of evolutionary theory in approaches to the mind, in the philosophy of biology, in the social sciences and humanities; furthermore it considers recent challenges to, and extensions of, Neo-Darwinism. The essays demonstrate that Darwinism is an evolving paradigm, with a sphere of influence far greater than even Darwin is likely to have imagined when he published ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism
Author: Robert Bannister
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2010-06-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 143990605X

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Attempts to assess the role played by Darwinian ideas in the writings of English-speaking social theorists.

Evolution 2.0

Evolution 2.0
Author: Martin Brinkworth
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2011-10-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9783642204975

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These essays by leading philosophers and scientists focus on recent ideas at the forefront of modern Darwinism, showcasing and exploring the challenges they raise as well as open problems. This interdisciplinary volume is unique in that it addresses the key notions of evolutionary theory in approaches to the mind, in the philosophy of biology, in the social sciences and humanities; furthermore it considers recent challenges to, and extensions of, Neo-Darwinism. The essays demonstrate that Darwinism is an evolving paradigm, with a sphere of influence far greater than even Darwin is likely to have imagined when he published ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859.

Human Nature After Darwin

Human Nature After Darwin
Author: Janet Radcliffe Richards
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2005-07-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134615825

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Human Nature After Darwin is an original investigation of the implications of Darwinism for our understanding of ourselves and our situation. It casts new light on current Darwinian controversies, also providing an introduction to philosophical reasoning and a range of philosophical problems. Janet Radcliffe Richards claims that many current battles about Darwinism are based on mistaken assumptions about the implications of the rival views. Her analysis of these implications provides a much-needed guide to the fundamentals of Darwinism and the so-called Darwin wars, as well as providing a set of philosophical techniques relevant to wide areas of moral and political debate. The lucid presentation makes the book an ideal introduction to both philosophy and Darwinism as well as a substantive contribution to topics of intense current controversy. It will be of interest to students of philosophy, science and the social sciences, and critical thinking.

From Darwin to Hitler

From Darwin to Hitler
Author: R. Weikart
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2016-09-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137109866

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In this work, Richard Weikart explains the revolutionary impact Darwinism had on ethics and morality. He demonstrates that many leading Darwinian biologists and social thinkers in Germany believed that Darwinism overturned traditional Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment ethics, especially the view that human life is sacred. Many of these thinkers supported moral relativism, yet simultaneously exalted evolutionary 'fitness' (especially intelligence and health) to the highest arbiter of morality. Darwinism played a key role in the rise not only of eugenics, but also euthanasia, infanticide, abortion and racial extermination. This was especially important in Germany, since Hitler built his view of ethics on Darwinian principles, not on nihilism.

Sociobiology and the Preemption of Social Science

Sociobiology and the Preemption of Social Science
Author: Alexander Rosenberg
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2019-12-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1421435438

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Originally published in 1981. Why have the social sciences in general failed to produce results with the ever-increasing explanatory power and predictive strength of the natural sciences? In seeking an answer to this question, Alexander Rosenberg, a philosopher of science, plunges into the controversial discipline of sociobiology. Sociobiology, Rosenberg asserts, deals in those forces governing human behavior that traditional social science has unsuccessfully attempted to slip between: neurophysiology, on the one hand, and selective forces, on the other. Unlike previous works in the two fields it straddles, Rosenberg's book brings thinking about the nature of scientific theorizing to bear on the most traditional issues in the philosophy of social science. The author finds that the subjects of conventional social science do not reflect the operation of laws that social scientists are equipped to discover. The author argues that much of the debate surrounding sociobiology is irrelevant to the issue of its ultimate success. Although largely conceptual, the book is an unequivocal defense of this new theory in the explanation of human behavior.

Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860-1915

Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860-1915
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2017-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1512816973

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Social Darwinism in American Thought examines the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Theorists such as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner adopted the idea of the struggle for existence as justification for the evils—as well as the benefits—of laissez-faire modern industrial society. Others, such as William James and John Dewey, argued that human planning was needed to direct social development and improve on the natural order. Hofstadter's classic study of the ramifications of Darwinism is a major analysis of the social philosophies that animated intellectual movements of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.

Philosophical Darwinism

Philosophical Darwinism
Author: Peter Munz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2002-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134884842

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Examines knowledge in the light of biology and in particular, Darwin's theory of natural selection. Munz argues that the acquisition of knowledge is continuous right from the protozoa to the most advanced scientific theories.