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" Darwinian fairytales : "
David Stove ; introduction by Roger Kimball.
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BL
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| Record Number
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978158
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| Doc. No
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b732528
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| Main Entry
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Stove, D. C., (David Charles)
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| Title & Author
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Darwinian fairytales : : selfish genes, errors of heredity, and other fables of evolution /\ David Stove ; introduction by Roger Kimball.
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| Edition Statement
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Paperback edition
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| Publication Statement
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New York :: Encounter Books,, 2007.
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, ©1995.
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| Page. NO
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xv, 345 pages ;; 23 cm
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| ISBN
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1594032009
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: 9781594032004
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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| Abstract
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"A Ridiculous Slander on Human Beings." That is what the philosopher David Stove concludes in his hilarious and razor-sharp inquiry into Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. But wait! Stove is no "creationist." He is not a proponent of "intelligent design." He is a man of "no religion," a theological skeptic who admits Darwin's "great genius" and acknowledges that the theory of natural selection is the most successful biological theory in history. But Stove also thinks that Darwinism is one of the most overblown of contemporary scientific dogmas. In Darwinian Fairytales, he provides a penetrating inventory of what the "unbelievable claims" of Darwinism, from its classic formulation in the nineteenth century through contemporary variations of neo-Darwinians such as E.O. Wilson and Richard Dawkins. Every organism has as many descendants as it can. That's what Darwinian Theory holds. But do you know anyone who has a many descendants as he could? In every species, child mortality - that is, the proportion of live births which die before reproductive age - is extremely high. How many friends do you know who have children? How many have died? The more privileged people are the more prolific: if one class in a society is less than another to the misery due to food-shortage, disease, and war, then the members of the more fortunate class will have (on average) more children than the members of the other class. Which comes closer to the truth, this Darwinian chestnut or the old song "The rich get richer and the poor get children"? Any variations in the least degree injurious to their possessors in the struggle for life will be rigidly destroyed by the process of natural selection. Start with the letter "A": Abortion, fondness for Alcohol, Altruism. Are any of these "variations" being "rigidly destroyed"? Darwinian Fairytales is a must-read book for people who want to get behind the doctrinaire can't that characterize both sides in the debate over Darwinism. It is the one book to read if you want to understand the issues behind the most hotly debated scientific controversy of our time. -- from back cover.
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| Subject
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Evolution (Biology)
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Human evolution.
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Social Darwinism.
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Sociobiology.
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Evolution (Biology)
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Human evolution.
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Social Darwinism.
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Sociobiology.
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| Dewey Classification
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304.5
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| LC Classification
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HM628
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HM106.S76 2007
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| Added Entry
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Kimball, Roger,1953-
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| Parallel Title
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Darwinian fairy tales
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