By using principles from a variety of scientific disciplines, Yale Professor Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework for human evolution that reveals an overarching purpose to our existence. Generations have been taught that evolution implies there is no overarching purpose to our existence, that life has no fundamental meaning. We are merely the accumulation of tens of thousands of intricate molecular accidents. Some scientists take this logic one step further, suggesting that evolution is intrinsically atheistic and goes against the concept of (...) God. But is this true? With respect to our evolution, nature seems to have endowed us with competing dispositions, what Wilkinson calls the dual potential of human nature. We are pulled in different directions: selfishness and altruism, aggression and cooperation, lust and love. When we couple this with the observation that we possess a measure of free will, all this strongly implies there is a universal purpose to our existence. This purpose, at least one of them, is to choose between the good and evil impulses that nature has created within us. Our life is a test. This is a truth, as old as history it seems, that has been espoused by so many of the world's religions. From a certain framework, these aspects of human nature--including how evolution shaped us--are evidence for the existence of a God, not against it. Closely related to this is meaning. What is the meaning of life? Based on the scientific data, it would seem that one such meaning is to develop deep and abiding relationships. At least that is what most people report are the most meaningful aspects of their lives. This is a function of our evolution. It is how we were created"--Dust jacket flap. (shrink)

Dieu contre Darwin! Cette opposition, volontairement simplificatrice et provocatrice, n'a en fait guère de sens. Création et Évolution ne se situent pas sur un même plan de connaissance. D'un côté, Les sciences universelles cherchent à décrire, dans un langage rigoureux, la mécanique des origines et de l'évolution de l'Univers, de la vie et de l'homme. De l'autre, philosophies et religions offrent des buts et un autre type de recherche, celui du sens de la vie de chacun. Nous montrons que les (...) Écritures ne sont pas des livres de science, mais exclusivement religieux. La raison peut être L'alliée des deux camps. L'ouverture d'esprit aussi... Encore un livre sur le créationnisme? Pour la première fois, ce livre propose une analyse comparative détaillée de ce que disent les trois religions du Livre au sujet de la question des origines, mises en regard des traditions historiques et des connaissances scientifiques les plus actuelles. Les croyants peuvent considérer que la science décrit La mécanique choisie par le Créateur pour réaliser Sa Création! Il ne peut donc être question de la rejeter... Grâce à un chapitre de questions-réponses, il constitue aussi un guide pour comprendre rapidement et précisément la valeur des arguments en présence. Il donne aux enseignants des réponses aux questions posées par leurs élèves. Ce livre très complet, qui prône le dialogue, permettra au lecteur de se faire une idée des enjeux scientifiques, religieux, politiques, philosophiques et historiques et de choisir sa voie, vers les lumières ou l'obscurantisme. (shrink)

Beginn : das Narrativ -- Traditionelle Denkmöglichkeiten -- Alternative Denkmöglichkeiten -- Unbedingte Möglichkeit -- Entfaltung -- Konsequenzen -- Schluss : das Narrativ.

Le discours officiel de l'Église catholique met volontiers en cause, depuis plusieurs années, la rationalité des Lumières sous le nom de « modernité ». La raison occidentale qui se détourne de la transcendance est accusée de conduire l'humanité à sa perte, rendue responsable de la décadence des mœurs, et de toutes les formes de totalitarisme; la Shoah serait le fruit amer d'une telle perversion.Il est vrai que les Lumières ont été dénoncées depuis longtemps sous des aspects divers, par le Romantisme, (...) par l'École de Francfort, et le sont encore par toutes les critiques adressées à la raison instrumentale. Mais ces critiques émanent de la méme raison, elles s'inscrivent dans la ligne d'une évolution de la rationalité qui a commencé bien avant les Lumières, elles ne rejettent aucun de ses acquis, en particulier la liberté de penser face à tous les autoritarismes, notamment religieux, elles gardent la même vision d'un monde sécularisé.La pensée catholique devrait faire l'effort de mieux comprendre cette évolution pour rester en dialogue avec la raison des temps modernes.For many years now the official discourse of the Catbolic Cburcb bas, witbout besitation, questioned the rationality of the Enlightenment under the name of “modernity”. Western reason that turns away from transcendence is accused of leading bumanity to its destruction. It is held responsible for the decadence of morals and for all types of totalitarianism ; the Shoah would be the bitter fruit of such a perversion.It is true that the Enlightenment bas been denounced for a long time from different points of view, by Romanticism and the Scbool of Frankfurf, and continues to be by all the criticisms addressed to instrumental reason. But these criticisms emanate from the same reason; they are written in the line of an evolution of rationality that begun well before the Enlightenment; they don’t reject any of these gains, in particular the freedom of thougbt in face of all authoritarianisms, especially religious; they keep the same vision of a secularized world.Catholic thougbt ougbt to make an effort to better understand tbis evolution in order to stay in dialogue with the reason of modern times. (shrink)

Réchauffement climatique, nucléaire, génétique, OGM, vaccins...: ces enjeux majeurs suscitent de vifs débats et déchaînent les passions. Industriels comme écologistes, fondamentalistes religieux comme matérialistes radicaux s'affrontent à grand renfort de chiffres et de faits " scientifiquement prouvés " pour imposer leur point de vue au plus grand nombre. Ce ne sont souvent que mensonges et manipulations à prétention scientifique. Ces nouvelles formes d'obscurantisme ne font que monopoliser le débat et alimenter la désinformation générale. Au terme d'une enquête minutieuse, Jean Staune (...) démontre que ces forces a priori antagonistes développent en réalité des stratégies similaires. Les grands débats scientifiques sur le climat, l'énergie, la santé ou l'évolution de la vie se retrouvent ainsi pris en otage et les véritables enjeux masqués. Au-delà des controverses idéologiques, c'est bien de notre vie quotidienne et de notre santé qu'il s'agit. Un ouvrage essentiel pour que les citoyens puissent enfin effectuer en connaissance de cause des choix de société vitaux pour l'avenir. Des révélations qui changeront radicalement ce que nous croyons savoir de ces sujets. (shrink)

The bifocal stance theory (BST) focuses on cultural evolution without alluding to associated processes in linguistic evolution and language use. The authors briefly comment on language acquisition but leave underexplored the applicability of BST to linguistic evolution, to changes of language representations, and to possible consequences for constructing social identity, based on, for example, collective resilience processes within language communities.

African evolution in the south Sahara traces its origin to very ancient times; it began when the Negroes established friendly or hostile contact with representatives of the Mediterranean and then of the oriental civilizations. From the fifteenth century on, attempts at colonization or penetration helped to accelerate a movement that was to precipitate the two world wars. Thirty years ago, when the so-called colonial problem moved from the national to the international level, these conflicts and their consequences had already given (...) rise overseas to imperious material needs demanding immediate satisfaction as well as to social and political aspirations calling for appropriate reforms. In half a century African evolution had reached the prerevolutionary stage. (shrink)

The recent sociobiology debate has raised fundamental and previously unresolved conceptual problems. Evolutionary Instability - Logical and Material Aspects of a Unified Theory of Biosocial Evolution - offers ap- proaches for their solution. The scientific applications comprise the dynamics and evolutionary instability of hierarchically organized systems, especially systems of interacting behavioural phenotypes in animals and man. The technical apparatus is thoroughly explained in intuitive terms within the text, and illustrated by numerous familiar examples and graphical representations, supplemented by an informal (...) summary and discussion. The analyses offer new theoretical perspectives to such diverse fields as philosophy of science, evolutionary biology, general system theory and sociology. (shrink)

The ethical aspects of evolution.--Sermons: Childhood--a Christmas sermon. Stand-bys. Liberal Christianity and liberal orthodoxy. A dedication sermon, Omaha, 1871. A minister's ideal. The humanitarian side of religion.

The Homo naledi discovery introduced questions that had not been previously posed regarding fossil finds. This is because, apart from their fascinating physiology, they seemingly deliberately disposed of their dead in a ritualised way. Although this theory may still be disproved in future, the present article provisionally accepts it. This evokes religious questions because it suggests the possibility of causal thinking, wilful and cooperative behaviour, and the possibility that this behaviour entails traces of proto-religious ideas. This poses the challenge to (...) develop a hominin hermeneutics that endeavours to reconstruct the possible motivation behind this action. The relatively larger brain with its enlarged Broca's area suggests the possibility of a sophisticated communication system and an enhanced way of dealing with emotion. We know that almost all life forms have some form of awareness and that more sophisticated degrees of consciousness may be present in the higher primates. Various 'clues' are investigated to try and understand the H. naledi phenomenon: lessons from chimpanzee studies, the implications of tool making for hominin development, the possibility of a proto-language and the role symbol formation may have played. The H. naledi case also indicates on a theological level that religion is natural. Some attention is given to this thesis. Biological and environmental factors come into play to illuminate biological factors like emotion and higher cognition without which religion would not be possible. Sophisticated cognition is coloured by affect and this makes some form of reflection on the fate of loved ones who have died a strong possibility. (shrink)

Cet article a pour but de décrire et analyser l’évolution de la détermination du nom du Vieil-Anglais à l’anglais moderne sous l’angle de la grammaticalisation. Les innovations principales à l’époque du Moyen-Anglais sont l’émergence de l’article indéfini, de la construction N of N ainsi que Quantifieur of N.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Peters is best known for ‘Ethics and Education’, (1966) an attempt, using analytical methods, to provide a universal canonical account of the nature of education. This corresponded closely with the prevailing conception of liberal education of the time. Despite the acclaim with which this work was received, Peters became increasingly dissatisfied with his early views of education and in a series of papers written between 1973 and 1982, he retreated slowly from the view that one could construct a universal canonical (...) account of education and even from the view that this could be possible for liberal education. As his views changed, his philosophical methods developed as well, moving from the Moorean essentialist analysis of 1966, through a more Strawsonian connective analysis in the mid 1970s to a position based on W.B. Gallie's account of essentially contested concepts in the early 1980s. Parallel to and connected with this changing philosophical methodology came a distinction between an overarching concept of education and particular conceptions of education related to different societies and their values. (shrink)

The Scottish scholar James McCosh was a champion of the Free church, a successful and much-published philosophy professor at Belfast for 16 years, and an energetic and innovative President of Princeton University from 1868 to 1888. The Religious Aspect of Evolution was published in 1888, and this second edition from 1890 took account of A. R. Wallace's latest work, Darwinism. McCosh, who already in Ireland had developed a 'theory of the universe conditioned by Christian revelation' was one of very (...) few clergymen in America who defended evolutionary theory. He impressed upon his students that while there seemed to be great truth in Darwin's theory, the work of the coming age must be to separate that truth from the error springing up around it. This would enable scholars to follow and even embrace science while also retaining their faith in the Bible. (shrink)

A study is made of some aspects of parallel evolution in Chelicerata. Definitions are given of parallel evolution, convergence, homology and analogy. It is pointed out that the concept of parallel evolution (parallelism) is initially formed in an empirical way, and that a judgment must be based on formal criteria. Particular attention is paid to the rôle of gene regulation in parallel evolution, to the special case of convergence as a result of heterologous regulatory mechanisms, to parallel evolution in homonomous (...) structures (and the superposition of parallelisms and divergences), and to parallelism in the evolution of characters used in higher classification. (shrink)

The aspects of establishment of monosyllabism of the Turkic and Mongolian morpheme are directly connected with the characteristics regarding the dissoluble unit of mentioned root bases. In the present work the author uses the term ‘root bases‘ keeping in mind a big and transparent closeness of root morpheme to the base on the range of its features and structural accordance as in the Turkic as well as in Mongolian languages. As it is known in Turkic scientific researches in last two (...) decades of the leaving age division of monosyllabic root bases on to smaller lexical-grammatical ones are considered as relatively new statement of the problem that has been treated skeptically enough. The majority of scholars were convinced in the possibility of holding such operation of ‘splitting‘ for purposeful searching and ascertaining of convincing arguments. They came to conclusion that monosyllabic roofs represented the category of historical one. It is supposed that everything that nowadays has removed in the researched Turkic languages of Ural-Volga region into the ‘passive stock of lexical order‘ used to be active and viable. This phenomenon presents certain interest for studying the process of the historical development of root’s structure as in turkology, so in Altaic studies, in which all the researchers who systematically studied the structure of a root using big linguistic material recognize availability of ‘dead roots‘. At the same tune, some researchers consider ‘dead ones‘ those root elements that are not used in the linguistic practice self-dependently other ones the same root elements that cannot be removed from the derivative basis. (shrink)

Le long règlement religieux trouvé à Marmarini, au nord-est de Larissa (Thessalie), a déjà donné lieu, depuis sa publication, à plusieurs articles qui tentent d’éclairer ce texte difficile. Dans la présente contribution, les auteurs proposent de nouvelles lectures et une nouvelle traduction, ce qui les conduit à suggérer de nouvelles interprétations sur certains aspects du rituel de ce sanctuaire consacré à une divinité orientale qui n’est jamais nommée.

This volume reaches beyond the controversy surrounding the teaching and learning of evolution in the United States, specifically in regard to the culture, politics, and beliefs found in the Southeast. The editors argue that despite a deep history of conflict in the region surrounding evolution, there is a wealth of evolution research taking place—from biodiversity in species to cultural evolution and human development. In fact, scientists, educators, and researchers from around the United States have found their niche in the South, (...) where biodiversity is high, culture runs deep, and the pace is just a little bit slower. (shrink)

In his thought-provoking book, Alex Mesoudi argues for an evolutionary, unifying framework for the social sciences, which is based on the principles of Darwinian theory. Mesoudi maintains that cultural change can be illuminated by using the genotype-phenotype distinction, and that it is sufficiently similar to biological change to warrant a theory of culture-change based on evolutionary models. He describes examples of cultural microevolution, within-population changes, and the biologically inspired population genetics models used to study them. He also shows that some (...) aspects of large-scale cultural transformation can be studied by using ecological models and phylogenetic comparative techniques. We argue that although Mesoudi's evolution-based perspective offers many useful insights, his ambition—the unification of the social sciences within a Darwinian framework through the use of the methods and models he describes—suffers from a major theoretical limitation. His reductive approach leads to overlooking culture as a system with emergent processes and features. Mesoudi therefore does not engage with any of the central past and present theories in sociology and anthropology for which the systems view of culture is central, and he does not analyze the emergent, high-level properties of human cultural-social systems. We suggest that a systems perspective, using some analogies and metaphors from developmental biology, can complement the evolutionary approach and is more in tune with a systems view of society. Such an approach, which stresses feedback and self-sustaining interactions within social networks, and engages with the insights of sociological and anthropological theories, can contribute to the understanding of cultural systems by highlighting the evolution of processes of social cohesion, and by making use of the mathematical approaches of complexity theory. (shrink)

While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species' success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, and ultimately enabling cumulative cultural evolution. Knowledge about the conditions required for peaceful intergroup relationships is critical for understanding the success of our species and building a (...) more peaceful world. How do humans create harmonious relationships across group boundaries and when did this capacity emerge in the human lineage? Answering these questions involves considering the costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression, for oneself, one's group, and one's neighbor. Taking a game theoretical perspective provides new insights into the difficulties of removing the threat of war and reveals an ironic logic to peace – the factors that enable peace also facilitate the increased scale and destructiveness of conflict. In what follows, I explore the conditions required for peace, why they are so difficult to achieve, and when we expect peace to have emerged in the human lineage. I argue that intergroup cooperation was an important component of human relationships and a selective force in our species history beginning at least 300 thousand years. But the preconditions for peace only emerged in the past 100 thousand years and likely coexisted with intermittent intergroup violence which would have also been an important and selective force in our species' history. (shrink)

Life-history evolution is a complexprocess. Life-history theory covers the fundamentallevel of the process, the evolution of life-historytraits. Life-history traits interact; thosecoevolving as a response to the same selectionpressure form life-history tactics. Top level of thehierarchy, life-history strategy, is formed bygenetically interconnected tactics. Our aim is toexpand the traditional view to life-history evolutionby considering what boundary conditions a successfullife-history strategy has to fulfil. We claim thatthe most fundamental condition successful strategieshave to meet is to minimize the risk of evolutionaryfailure. Here the (...) risk of failure refers to failurein transferring practitioners of the strategy to thenext time point, either through survival, or byreproduction. We make an attempt to classify types ofrisks as they lead to evolutionary failure, anddiscuss how risk minimization ideas may be approachedempirically. We conclude that understanding howtraits evolve may not cover all aspects of howstrategies evolve. We emphasize that bookkeeping ofthe actual causes of failure might help in developinglife-history theory that uses causes of selection topredict responses to selection. (shrink)

Als Charles Darwin im Jahr 1859 seine Theorie einer Evolution der Arten durch natürliche Auslese veröffentlichte, sah er bereits eine grosse Debatte voraus, jedoch nicht deren Ausstrahlungskraft und Langlebigkeit. Zu Beginn standen die Folgen für die Wissenschaften, den Glauben an Gott und die Moralvorstellungen im Vordergrund. Bald kamen Überlegungen über Gesellschaft, Politik, internationale Beziehungen und über Eingriffe bis hinunter auf die Ebene des Individuums und seines Erbmaterials, seiner Gene hinzu. Sozialdarwinismus, Eugenik, Rassismus galten zeitweise als wissenschaftlich legitime Diskussions- und Politikfelder. (...) Befürchtungen vor einem vermeintlichen Niedergang lassen sich bis heute angesichts der Biologisierung des Denkens scheinbar wissenschaftlich-objektiv untermauern. Gegenwärtig sind die Kontroversen noch vielfältiger, beziehen weit mehr Menschen ein als im späten 19. Jahrhundert, haben weit gravierendere Auswirkungen. Die aus elf Ländern stammenden Autorinnen und Autoren zeichnen aus unterschiedlichen disziplinären Perspektiven die Facetten einer spannenden und bis in die Gegenwart hochaktuellen Debatte nach und fragen nach der Zukunft des "Streitfalls Evolution". (shrink)

The evolution of the technology standard alliance is examined using complex adaptive system theory. Taking TSA as a dynamic CAS, an echo model is constructed to depict the mechanism of its evolution, and a model is simulated on the NetLogo platform. The echo model includes a basic model, an extended model, and a three-layer echo model. The adhesive aggregation of agents is explained, and the three evolutionary stages of agents’ entry, migration, and exit are analyzed. Moreover, the adaptability of agents (...) in TSA is quantified. The results of simulation show the evolution of the TSA in relation to the two aspects of agent adhesion aggregation and agent resource interaction, and they demonstrate the dynamic and complex hierarchical structure of the TSA system. It is proposed that greater matching ability, moderate behavior income, and lower behavior cost are more conducive to the evolution and development of TSA. Additionally, the echo model is reconstructed to expand the range of application of CAS theory. (shrink)

Evolutionary change occurs most often through the modification of pre-existing structures. What were the pre-existing circuits in our primate ancestors that paved the way for human language, and how did they change in the lineages leading to our present condition? Among the neural modifications that were critical for human language, there are two of special interest: The origin and evolution of the remarkably rich conceptual world that humans share to the exclusion of other primates, and the origin of neural circuitry (...) that underlies various sequential and hierarchical aspects of language, as utilized for example in syntax and word morphology. The fossil record of brain evolution and the archaeological record provide intriguing clues about these processes. (shrink)

This interdisciplinary volume brings together expert researchers coming from primatology, anthropology, ethology, philosophy of cognitive sciences, neurophysiology, mathematics and psychology to discuss both the foundations of non-human primate and human social cognition as well as the means there currently exist to study the various facets of social cognition. The first part focusses on various aspects of social cognition across primates, from the relationship between food and social behaviour to the connection with empathy and communication, offering a multitude of innovative approaches (...) that range from field-studies to philosophy. The second part details the various epistemic and methodological means there exist to study social cognition, in particular how to ascertain the proximal and ultimate mechanisms of social cognition through experimental, modelling and field studies. In the final part, the mechanisms of cultural transmission in primate and human societies are investigated, and special attention is given to how the evolution of cognitive capacities underlie primates’ abilities to use and manufacture tools, and how this in turn influences their social ecology. A must-read for both, young scholars as well as established researchers! (shrink)

No fight over what gets taught in American classrooms is more heated than the battle over humanity’s origins. For more than a century we have argued about evolutionary theory and creationism (and its successor theory, intelligent design), yet we seem no closer to a resolution than we were in Darwin’s day. In this thoughtful examination of how we teach origins, historian Adam Laats and philosopher Harvey Siegel offer crucial new ways to think not just about the evolution debate but how (...) science and religion can make peace in the classroom. Laats and Siegel agree with most scientists: creationism is flawed, as science. But, they argue, students who believe it nevertheless need to be accommodated in public school science classes. Scientific or not, creationism maintains an important role in American history and culture as a point of religious dissent, a sustained form of protest that has weathered a century of broad—and often dramatic—social changes. At the same time, evolutionary theory has become a critical building block of modern knowledge. The key to accommodating both viewpoints, they show, is to disentangle belief from knowledge. A student does not need to believe in evolution in order to understand its tenets and evidence, and in this way can be fully literate in modern scientific thought and still maintain contrary religious or cultural views. Altogether, Laats and Siegel offer the kind of level-headed analysis that is crucial to finding a way out of our culture-war deadlock. (shrink)