Robinson unfolds the vision of four influential writers on psychology---J.S. Mill, F. Hegel, Wilhelm Wundt, and William James---who considered the world, its persons and problems, its possibilities and conflicts, its scientific facts and its moral ambiguities, and proceeded to devise a means by which to improve it. Robinson shows how in thinking about psychology, these individuals provided an intellectual context within which the discipline could be refined.
Sociology is in crisis. While other disciplines have taken on board the revolutionary discoveries driven by evolutionary biology and psychology, genomics and behavioral genetics, and the neurosciences, sociology has ignored these advances and embraced a biophobia that threatens to drive the discipline into marginality. This book takes its place in a rich tradition of efforts to integrate sociological thinking into the world of the biological sciences that can be traced to the origins of the discipline, and that took on modern form beginning a generation ago in the works of thinkers such as E.O. Wilson, Richard Alexander, Joseph Lopreato, and Richard Machalek. It offers an accessible introduction to rethinking sociological science in consonance with these contemporary biological revolutions. From the standpoint of a biosociology rooted in the single most important scientific theory touching on human life, the Darwinian theory of natural selection, the book sketches an evolutionary social science that would enable us to properly attend to basic questions of human nature, human behavior, and human social organization. Individual chapters take on such topics as: The roots and nature of human sociality; the origins of morality in human social life and an evolutionary perspective on human interests, reciprocity, and altruism; the sex difference in our species and what it contributes to an explanation of sociological facts; the nature of stratification, status, and inequality in human evolutionary history; the question of race in our species; and the contribution evolutionary theory makes to explaining the origins and the importance of culture in human societies.
Kass shows how the promise and the peril of our time are inextricably linked with the promise and the peril of modern science. The relation between the pursuit of knowledge and the conduct of life—between science and ethics, each broadly conceived—has in recent years been greatly complicated by developments in the science of life. This book examines the ethical questions involved in prenatal screening, in vitro fertilization, artificial life forms, and medical care, and discusses the role of human beings in nature.
From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power comes the definitive new book on decoding the behavior of the people around you Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.
Dupré warns that our understanding of human nature is being distorted by two faulty and harmful forms of pseudo-scientific thinking. He claims it is important to resist scientism - an exaggerated conception of what science can be expected to do.
This work presents a reflexive mixed methods study of young adults' experiences of solo time in the wilderness and the impact on these individuals' attitudes and values in the face of global change.
We've been told, again and again, that life is unfair. But what if we're wrong simply to resign ourselves to this situation? Drawing on the evidence from our evolutionary history and the emergent science of human nature, this title shows that we have an innate sense of fairness.
Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research are raising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scope and limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate the possibility of intervening in the human genome to prevent diseases, we cannot help but feel that the human species might soon be able to take its biological evolution in its own hands. ‘Playing God’ is the metaphor commonly used for this self-transformation of the species, which, it seems, might soon be within our grasp. In this important new book, Jürgen Habermas – the most influential philosopher and social thinker in Germany today – takes up the question of genetic engineering and its ethical implications and subjects it to careful philosophical scrutiny. His analysis is guided by the view that genetic manipulation is bound up with the identity and self-understanding of the species. We cannot rule out the possibility that knowledge of one’s own hereditary factors may prove to be restrictive for the choice of an individual’s way of life and may undermine the symmetrical relations between free and equal human beings. In the concluding chapter – which was delivered as a lecture on receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for 2001 – Habermas broadens the discussion to examine the tension between science and religion in the modern world, a tension which exploded, with such tragic violence, on September 11th.
"In the course of every human life, moments come -- often so quietly as to be almost unrecognized -- that are so subtle and unobtrusive, they pass without one being fully aware of them. These moments are like the gentle tones of birds singing in their sleep, the faint sound of a bell ringing far away, or the gentle touch of an invisible hand. "Nevertheless, all these moments, perceived or unperceived, are manifestations of destiny in each human life, 'the evidence of things not seen.' They express the secret language of the heart and invite one to begin a journey. They involve taking important steps on a life path, which one senses instinctively will ultimately lead to the light of one's own higher self and into the world of spiritual reality, the 'land' where the real foundations of life purposes are to be found. Thus, one sets out on a path that can lead to the unfolding of the unique mystery of each individual life story. Such is the substance of the journey described in these pages." --Paul Marshall Allen Paul Allen was born into a Quaker family on June 26, 1913, in the small upstate New York village of Conquest. The life that followed was as varied outwardly as it was deeply committed inwardly to following a path of knowledge. He was a teacher, actor, writer, and publisher, each role connecting him with the world as a "Rosicrucian soul." For Paul, the most important event of destiny occurred when he encountered Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science through the actor Michael Chekhov, leading Paul to dedicate his life to Anthroposophy as a path of inner knowledge and activity in the world. In A Rosicrucian Soul, Russell Pooler takes the reader on a journey through the life of a man who profoundly affected everyone he encountered. During the early days of Anthroposophy in North America, Paul delved deeply into Rudolf Steiner's works and became the "first American-born anthroposophic lecturer," traveling across the continent and bringing the few, far-flung Anthroposophic Society members in North America a greater sense of unity and purpose. In New York City, with Bernie Garber, he began publishing the works of Rudolf Steiner and, with Carlo Pietzner, compiled A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology. Paul Allen eventually started his own publishing company, St. George Book Service, a mail-order book business in western Massachusetts. Later, destiny took Paul and his wife, architect Joan deRis Allen, to Camphill villages in the British Isles and Norway, where they lived, as Paul produced numerous plays, the most significant of which were Rudolf Steiner's Four Mystery Dramas. Throughout this life story, as outer events unfold, the reader is guided to a sense of the inner activities of this very Rosicrucian soul and, perhaps more important, to glimpses of how each of us affects each other through our inner struggles and consequent actions.
