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Loading... Darwinism and its Discontentsby Michael Ruse
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Ruse, a supporter of Darwinism, weighs criticisms of the theory: scientific, philosophical and religious. It is an admirable attempt and a worthy goal, but I think that he falls short. Ruse's focus tends to waver, and he often wonders off on slight tangents without having really dealt crisply with the issue. Although he has a lot of documentation, in the end, he often falls back on broad generalizations that are more assertive than persuasive. I have read much better defenses of many of these issues elsewhere; some of them were published before this title, and Ruse would have done well to take Dennett's discussion of Steven Gould and spandrels under advisement before writing this somewhat limp explication. It is valuable to have all of these topics gathered into one book, but I wish it was a much stronger effort. As a Darwinist, I don't find this useful as a guide for clarifying and defending my position. If I weren't a Darwinist, I don't think I'd find it convincing. (  )juglicerr | Jan 6, 2009 |   0.011 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 052172824X, Paperback)This book presents an ardent defence of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution against its many critics by one of the leading experts on this subject. Offering a clear and comprehensive exposition of the thinking of Darwin, Michael Ruse brings the story up to day, examining important issues such as the origins of life, the fossil record, the mechanism of natural selection, and rival theories such as punctuated equilibrium, the story of human evolution (including the recently found "hobbits," Homo floresiensis), fraud in biological science, literary approaches to evolution, and the philosophical and religious implications of Darwinism, notably a discussion of Creationism and its modern day offshoot, Intelligent Design Theory. Ruse draws upon the most recent discoveries, but writes with a minimum of jargon. His book will appeal to many readers, from professional biologists to concerned citizens who worry that Darwinism is a naturalistic religion that is forced on school children in face of their own deeply held Christian convictions. Openly revealing his own beliefs, Ruse 's aim throughout is to present information and critical tools so that the reader can make informed decisions for him or herself.(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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