Through a Glass Brightly: Using Science to See Our Species as We Really Are

Through a Glass Brightly: Using Science to See Our Species as We Really Are – Ebook Instant Download/Delivery ISBN(s): 9780190673710,0190673710,9780190673734, 0190673737

Product detail:

• ISBN 10: 0190673737
• ISBN 13: 9780190673734
• Author: David P. Barash

Human beings have long seen themselves as the center of the universe, the apple of God’s eye, specially-created creatures who are somehow above and beyond the natural world. This viewpoint–a persistent paradigm of our own unique self-importance–is as dangerous as it is false. In Through a Glass Brightly, noted scientist David P. Barash explores the process by which science has, throughout time, cut humanity “down to size,” and how humanity has responded. A good paradigm is a tough thing to lose, especially when its replacement leaves us feeling more vulnerable and less special. And yet, as science has progressed, we find ourselves–like it or not–bereft of many of our most cherished beliefs, confronting an array of paradigms lost.Barash models his argument around a set of “old” and “new” paradigms that define humanity’s place in the universe. This new set of paradigms range from provocative revelations as to whether human beings are well designed, whether the universe has somehow been established with our species in mind (the so-called anthropic principle), whether life itself is inherently fragile, and whether Homo sapiens might someday be genetically combined with other species (and what that would mean for our self-image). Rather than seeing ourselves through a glass darkly, science enables us to perceive our strengths and weaknesses brightly and accurately at last, so that paradigms lost becomes wisdom gained. The result is a bracing, remarkably hopeful view of who we really are.

Table of contents:

1. Part I: The Allure of Human Centrality, or, How We Persistently Try to Deny Our Place in the Natural World—and Fail
2. Prelude to Part I
3. 1. The journey to Brobdingnag
4. 2. From centrality to periphery
5. 3. The meaning of life
6. 4. Well designed?
7. 5. The anthropic principle
8. 6. Tardigrades, trisolarans, and the toughness of life
9. 7. Of humanzees and chimphumans
10. 8. Separateness of self?
11. Part II: New Ways of Understanding Human Nature
12. Prelude to Part II
13. 9. Uniquely thoughtful
14. 10. Conflict between parents and offspring
15. 11. True or false?
16. 12. The myth of monogamy
17. 13. War and peace
18. 14. About those better angels
19. 15. Who’s in charge?
20. 16. The paradox of power

People also search: