On Purpose
2017-10 · Princeton University Press
El. knyga
320
Puslapiai
family_home
Tinkama
info
reportĮvertinimai ir apžvalgos nepatvirtinti. Sužinokite daugiau
Apie šią el. knygą
A brief, accessible history of the idea of purpose in Western thought, from ancient Greece to the present
Can we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Kant thought we were stuck with purpose, and even Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which profoundly shook the idea, was unable to kill it. Indeed, teleological explanation—what Aristotle called understanding in terms of “final causes”—seems to be making a comeback today, as both religious proponents of intelligent design and some prominent secular philosophers argue that any explanation of life without the idea of purpose is missing something essential.
In On Purpose, Michael Ruse explores the history of the idea of purpose in philosophical, religious, scientific, and historical thought, from ancient Greece to the present. Accessibly written and filled with literary and other examples, the book examines “purpose” thinking in the natural and human world. It shows how three ideas about purpose have been at the heart of Western thought for more than two thousand years. In the Platonic view, purpose results from the planning of a human or divine being; in the Aristotelian, purpose stems from a tendency or principle of order in the natural world; and in the Kantian, purpose is essentially heuristic, or something to be discovered, an idea given substance by Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection.
On Purpose traces the profound and fascinating implications of these ways of thinking about purpose. Along the way, it takes up tough questions about the purpose of life and whether it’s possible to have meaning without purpose, revealing that purpose is still a vital and pressing issue.
Can we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Kant thought we were stuck with purpose, and even Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which profoundly shook the idea, was unable to kill it. Indeed, teleological explanation—what Aristotle called understanding in terms of “final causes”—seems to be making a comeback today, as both religious proponents of intelligent design and some prominent secular philosophers argue that any explanation of life without the idea of purpose is missing something essential.
In On Purpose, Michael Ruse explores the history of the idea of purpose in philosophical, religious, scientific, and historical thought, from ancient Greece to the present. Accessibly written and filled with literary and other examples, the book examines “purpose” thinking in the natural and human world. It shows how three ideas about purpose have been at the heart of Western thought for more than two thousand years. In the Platonic view, purpose results from the planning of a human or divine being; in the Aristotelian, purpose stems from a tendency or principle of order in the natural world; and in the Kantian, purpose is essentially heuristic, or something to be discovered, an idea given substance by Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection.
On Purpose traces the profound and fascinating implications of these ways of thinking about purpose. Along the way, it takes up tough questions about the purpose of life and whether it’s possible to have meaning without purpose, revealing that purpose is still a vital and pressing issue.
Apie autorių
Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science at Florida State University. He has written or edited more than fifty books, including Darwinism as Religion, The Philosophy of Human Evolution, and The Darwinian Revolution.
Įvertinti šią el. knygą
Pasidalykite savo nuomone.
Skaitymo informacija
Išmanieji telefonai ir planšetiniai kompiuteriai
Įdiekite „Google Play“ knygų programą, skirtą „Android“ ir „iPad“ / „iPhone“. Ji automatiškai susinchronizuojama su paskyra ir jūs galite skaityti tiek prisijungę, tiek neprisijungę, kad ir kur būtumėte.
Nešiojamieji ir staliniai kompiuteriai
Galite klausyti garsinių knygų, įsigytų sistemoje „Google Play“ naudojant kompiuterio žiniatinklio naršyklę.
El. knygų skaitytuvai ir kiti įrenginiai
Jei norite skaityti el. skaitytuvuose, pvz., „Kobo eReader“, turite atsisiųsti failą ir perkelti jį į įrenginį. Kad perkeltumėte failus į palaikomus el. skaitytuvus, vadovaukitės išsamiomis pagalbos centro instrukcijomis.
