Title
What Darwin got wrong / Jerry Fodor, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini.
Edition
1st American ed.
ISBN
9780374288792 (alk. paper)
0374288798 (alk. paper)
Imprint
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
Language
English
Description
xx, 264 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Call Number
QH375 .F63 2010
Dewey Decimal Classification
576.8/2
Summary
This book dares to challenge natural selection--not in the name of religion but in the name of good science. Most scientists are so terrified of religious attacks on the theory of evolution that it is never examined critically. There are significant scientific and philosophical problems with the theory of natural selection. Darwin claimed the factors that determine the course of evolution are very largely environmental. Empirical results in biology are increasingly calling this thesis into question. The authors show that Darwinism is committed to inferring, from the premise that a kind of creature with a certain trait was selected, the conclusion that that kind of creature was selected for having that trait. Though such inferences are fallacious, they are nevertheless unavoidable within the Darwinist framework. Ultimately, Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini level a devastating critique against Darwinist orthodoxy and suggest new ways of thinking about evolution.--From publisher description.
In this provocative, enlightening, and very entertaining book, the authors argue that natural selection cannot explain how evolution occurs and then proceed to outline significant scientific and philosophical problems with the theory as well as suggesting new ways of thinking about evolution.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
What kind of theory is the theory of natural selection?
Internal constraints : what the new biology tells us
Whole genomes, networks, modules and other complexities
Many constraints, many environments
The return of the laws of form
Many are called but few are chosen : the problem of 'selection-for'
No exit? : some responses to the problem of 'selection-for'
Did the dodo lose its ecological niche? : or was it the other way around?
Summary and postlude.
