
Darwin in a New Key
Evolution and the Question of Value
William J. Meyer(Author)
Wipf & Stock Publishers
Published on 30. December 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
136 pages
978-1-4982-3119-0 (ISBN)
Description
Can one coherently integrate Darwin's view of evolution with an affirmation of the value of existence? In this fresh, lean, and substantive volume, William Meyer addresses this important question. By carefully analyzing Darwin's own writings and by drawing on the philosophical perspectives of William James, Alfred North Whitehead, and others, Meyer persuasively redirects the cultural conversation about Darwin away from the retrospective question of origins toward the prospective question concerning the ultimate significance of evolutionary life. As James recognized, the question about the reality of God is more critical for the forward-looking question of value than it is for the backward-looking question of origins. Darwin was a theist in search of a better theism, and because theology had not yet caught up to him, he became increasingly agnostic and caught between his mechanistic understanding of nature, on the one hand, and his affirmation of the value and beauty of the world, on the other. Whitehead's philosophy of organism offers a way to integrate Darwin's evolutionary insights with his affirmation of the grandeur of nature. Meyer's clearly written and richly argued book enables us to integrate our evolutionary understanding of the world with our experience of value within it.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Eugene
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
209 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4982-3119-0 (9781498231190)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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E-Book
12/2015
Wipf and Stock Publishers
€18.49
Available for download
Person
William J. Meyer is Professor of Philosophy and the Ralph W. Beeson Professor of Religion at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. He is the author of Metaphysics and the Future of Theology (2010).