Philosophy of Biology

Download or read book Philosophy of Biology written by Alex Rosenberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-12-19 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is life a purely physical process? What is human nature? Which of our traits is essential to us? In this volume, Daniel McShea and Alex Rosenberg – a biologist and a philosopher, respectively – join forces to create a new gateway to the philosophy of biology; making the major issues accessible and relevant to biologists and philosophers alike. Exploring concepts such as supervenience; the controversies about genocentrism and genetic determinism; and the debate about major transitions central to contemporary thinking about macroevolution; the authors lay out the broad terms in which we should assess the impact of biology on human capacities, social institutions and ethical values.