"Janet Radcliffe Richards has scored yet another success ....simply the clearest and most accurate introduction
that there is to the current controversies about evolution, about Darwinian evolution in particular, and about
how these do or do not apply to our own species. This is a book that will prove invaluable to students of all ages.
Highly recommended."
--Michael Ruse, University of Guelph, Ontario
"...a lucid treatment of one of the most important (and political) conflicts of our time."
--Wilson Quarterly
"...a contribution to the Darwinian debate."
--Contemporary Review
"...a superb book...Written with real verve and large doses of humour...provides insights with relevance to
many issues in public policy and to numerous fields, including philosophy, political science, sociology, and law."
--Cass R. Sunstein, [Karl N. Llwellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence,] Law School and Department
of Political Science, University of Chicago.
"A really excellent text. Richards uses the controversy over sociobiology as a way to discuss a whole series
of traditional philosophical problems...."
--Professor David Hull, Northwestern University
Routledge, New York, April, 2002
Summary
Human Nature After Darwin is an original investigation of the implications of Darwinism for our understanding
of ourselves and our situation. It casts new light on current Darwinian controversies, and in doing so provides
an introduction to philosophical reasoning and a range of philosophical problems. Janet Radcliffe Richards claims
that many current battles about Darwinism, in particular about evolutionary psychology and religion, are based
on mistaken assumptions about the implications of the rival views. Her analysis of these implications provides
a much-needed guide to the fundamentals of Darwinism and the so-called Darwin-wars, as well as providing a set
of philosophical techniques relevant to wide areas of moral and political debate. It also raises philosophical
problems of knowledge and certainly, free will and responsibility, altruism, the status of ethics, and the relevance
of Darwinism to questions of ethics, politics and religion. The lucid presentation makes the book an ideal introduction
to both philosophy and Darwinism, as well as a substantive contribution to topics of intense current controversy.
It will be of interest to students of philosophy, science and the social sciences, and critical thinking.
Table of Contents
1.The Theory
2.The Sceptics
3.Internecine Strife
4.Implications and Conditionals
5.Biology as Destiny
6.Blameless Puppets
7.Selfish Genes and Moral Animals
8.The End of Ethics
9.Onwards and Upwards
Answers to Exercises
Revision Exercises
Answers to Revision Exercises
Bibliography
Index
Footnotes
Further Reading
