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Title
George C. Williams and evolutionary literacy / Michael P. Cohen.
ISBN
9783031116506 (electronic bk.)
303111650X (electronic bk.)
3031116496
9783031116490
Imprint
Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource.
Other Standard Identifiers
10.1007/978-3-031-11650-6 doi
Call Number
QH360.5
Dewey Decimal Classification
576.8
Summary
In this book, a case study of a humanistic reading of an essential evolutionary theorist, George C. Williams (May 12, 1926September 8, 2010), the author contends that certain classic works of evolutionary theory and history are the most important nature writing of recent times. What it means to be scientifically literateis essential for humanistic scholars, who must ground themselves with literary reading of scientific texts. As the most influential American evolutionary theorist of the second half of the twentieth century, Williams masters critique, frames questions about adaptation and natural selection, and answers in a plain, aphoristic writing style. Williams aims for parsimonyto "recognize adaptation at the level necessitated by the facts and no higher" through a minimalist writing style. This voice articulates a powerful process that operates at very low levels by blind and selfish chance at the expense of its designed products, using purely trial and error. Michael P. Cohen works at the intersection of literary theory and nature writing. His books include Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness (1984), A Garden of Bristlecones: Tales of Change in the Great Basin (1998) and Granite and Grace: Seeking the Heart of Yosemite (2019). .
Note
Includes index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Series
Literatures, cultures, and the environment.
Available in Other Form
Print version: 9783031116506
Print version: 9783031116490
Introduction: The Face of the Adaptationist Program
Chapter 1. A Balance of Forces: Homes and Schools, Genes, Senescence, and Altruism
Chapter 2.Design, Parsimony, and a Critique of Adaptation
Chapter 3.Opening Sociobiology: Disciplining the Plain Style
Chapter 4.Sex, Death, and the Language of Sociobiology
Chapter 5.How Scientific Reductionism leads to Evolutionary Explanation
Chapter 6.Evolution and Human Ethics: An Expansion from Sociobiology
Chapter 7.History, Natural Selection, and the Book of Nature
Chapter 8.Repairing Human Natures
Chapter 9.The Dark Side of Biology
Chapter 10.How Shall a Human Face Death.
