Deze auteur duikt in de filosofie van biologie en geest, met een focus op pragmatisme en de algemene wetenschapsfilosofie. Zijn werk onderzoekt de complexiteit en functie van de geest in de natuur, evolutionaire processen en de theoretische grondslagen van wetenschappelijke kennis. Lezers zullen de diepgang van zijn gedachten en zijn vermogen om schijnbaar uiteenlopende gebieden te verbinden waarderen. Zijn expertise blijkt uit inzichtelijke beschouwingen over de aard van zijn en weten.
The book presents a new way of understanding Darwinism and evolution by natural selection, combining work in biology, philosophy, and other fields. It gives new criticisms of gene-centered views of evolution, and presents a new framework for understanding the evolution of complex organisms and societies.
Exploring the interplay between intelligence and environmental complexity, this book connects the philosophy of mind with broader externalist explanations. It poses critical questions about developing a philosophical theory of the mind in relation to environmental properties and examines the implications of understanding the internal through external perspectives. The author adopts a biological lens to investigate cognition's role in navigating complexity, drawing on historical insights from Dewey and Spencer, while engaging with contemporary evolutionary theory. This work is aimed at philosophers, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and historians of science.
Brilliant' Guardian Fascinating and often delightful' The Times SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is "really" like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the reader on a grand tour of more than a hundred years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science. Examples and asides engage the beginning student, a glossary of terms explains key concepts, and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter. Like no other text in this field, Theory and Reality combines a survey of recent history of the philosophy of science with current key debates that any beginning scholar or critical reader can follow. The second edition is thoroughly updated and expanded by the author with a new chapter on truth, simplicity, and models in science.
"A philosopher of science explains how the animal kingdom gave rise to human consciousness"--Provided by publisher
'Brilliant' Guardian Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month (March) SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In this witty and stylish companion to Englishness Sunday Times columnist Godfrey Smith takes us on a leisurely but perceptive tour of all that he holds dear in England and the English. It is very much an informal ramble, as if in the company of an old friend. He treats us to a display of sparkling and knowledgeable comments on our national life from Churchill to pubs, Elgar to Rugby, Bertie Wooster to George Orwell, British beef to the National Lottery and from fish and chips to Evelyn Waugh.
The trial of the 'Grenada 17' for the assassination of Maurice Bishop, the popular leader of the Grenada Revolution, left many unanswered questions. Nearly four decades later this book sheds new and credible light on the tragedy which unfolded on that fateful day in October 1983 and the chilling sequence of events that precipitated them.
An essential introduction to the philosophy of biology This is a concise, comprehensive, and accessible introduction to the philosophy of biology written by a leading authority on the subject. Geared to philosophers, biologists, and students of both, the book provides sophisticated and innovative coverage of the central topics and many of the latest developments in the field. Emphasizing connections between biological theories and other areas of philosophy, and carefully explaining both philosophical and biological terms, Peter Godfrey-Smith discusses the relation between philosophy and science; examines the role of laws, mechanistic explanation, and idealized models in biological theories; describes evolution by natural selection; and assesses attempts to extend Darwin's mechanism to explain changes in ideas, culture, and other phenomena. Further topics include functions and teleology, individuality and organisms, species, the tree of life, and human nature. The book closes with detailed, cutting-edge treatments of the evolution of cooperation, of information in biology, and of the role of communication in living systems at all scales. Authoritative and up-to-date, this is an essential guide for anyone interested in the important philosophical issues raised by the biological sciences.
Peter Godfrey's first collection is a book of reports from the front-line, messages sent from over the border, beyond the edge of the map - Madrid 1939, Oradour 1944, Hiroshima 1945, Santiago 1973, San Carlos Bay 1982. It's a celebration of those who - like Dom Helder Câmara, René Magritte, Oscar Neimeyer, Wat Tyler and Jacques Brel - have understood 'the glory of pedalling the wrong way on a one-way street'. And it's a hymn to the patient humility of those who believe that life does not have to be like this, and who imbue the world with grace.