Description
Book SynopsisJeremy Sherman distills Terrence Deacon’s breakthrough natural science hypothesis for the emergence of agents and agency, selves and aims in an otherwise aimless universe. The theory cuts a new path through the dualistic spirit vs. mechanism debate, unifying the hard and soft sciences and suggesting new solutions to philosophical mysteries.
Trade ReviewIn
Neither Ghost nor Machine, Jeremy Sherman takes on a central mystery: How did the universe get from matter to mattering? Whence purpose? Whence selves? These are topics too easily ignored in our rush to find the molecular stuff of life and not the organizational "what is” of life. With this fine book, and that of Deacon, we are well launched. -- Stuart Kauffman, MacArthur Fellow, author of
At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and ComplexityNeither Ghost nor Machine reckons with the most profound questions one can ask about the nature of the self and of life on earth. It is the work of a fiercely inquisitive and original mind. -- Kaja Perina, editor in chief,
Psychology TodayWhen the Big Bang banged all there was was just the stuff of basic physics, fermions, bosons, and such. There was neither life nor mind. Now there is life all over the place and some of it is conscious. How is that possible? How could such things as life and mind emerge? Jeremy Sherman has written a clear, clever, witty guide to the new science of emergence championed by Terrence Deacon. This is a philosophical treasure trove that explains how novelty emerges without explanatory gaps and violations of the laws of nature. -- Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Duke University, author of
Consciousness ReconsideredFinally! A breakthrough approach to fundamental questions that have gone unanswered for so long that many forget to ask them. Fascinating, profound! -- Daniel Ellsberg, behavioral economist, Right Livelihood Award recipient
For those of us who call ourselves religious/spiritual naturalists, this book is sure to become an instant classic. Its narrative of how living beings are and came to be is rigorous, accessible, and lyrical, and will greatly deepen our affinity with the natural world and with one another. -- Ursula Goodenough, Washington University in St. Louis, author of
The Sacred Depths of NatureNeither Ghost nor Machine is an eloquent manifesto in the movement to reclaim questions of purpose and agency for science. Presenting Terrence Deacon’s account of the natural emergence of living agents, Jeremy Sherman casts aside the stale, old dichotomies to show us a new way of thinking scientifically about life. -- Jessica Riskin, author of
The Restless Clock: A History of the Centuries-Long Argument over What Makes Living Things TickJeremy Sherman lucidly explicates the paradigm-changing vision of Terrence Deacon, which addresses the mysteries of the origin of living systems from the nonliving and the emergence of mind and purpose in a nature that is still the the process of evolving. -- Bruce H. Weber, coauthor of
Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural SelectionThe persistent Western dualism of mind and matter is finally done for, and the burden of proof has shifted. Thanks to books like Neither Ghost Nor Machine, inspired by the work of Terrence Deacon, we are now crossing the threshold to a brave new self-understanding -- Loyal D. Rue, Luther College
Clearly written and accessible to any reader with an interest in the Big Questions of Life and Mindedness. * Biosemiotics *
Table of ContentsForeword, by Terrence Deacon
I. Overview1. The Mystery of Purpose
2. The Biggest Mystery We Ever Ignore
3. Deacon’s Solution in Brief
II. Framing the Mystery4. Two Sources of Change
5. Selves
6. Two Ghosts, Two Machines
7. Interpretation
8. Aims
9. Evolution’s Limited Limiting Role
III. Dead Ends, Live Clues10. The History
11. Evolutionary Theory’s Elusive Self
12. Information About Nothing for Anyone
13. The Engineered Ghosts in Our Machines
14. Small Is Dubious
IV. Grounding a Solution15. Processes of Emergent Elimination
16. Second Law Irregularity
17. Emergent Regularization
18. Emergent Regularization vs. Emergent Self-Regeneration
19. Other Emergent Regularization Dynamics
20. Coupled Regularization Processes
V. Deacon’s Solution21. Autogens: Self-Generators
22. Evolved Autogens
23. Where Is the Self?
24. The Consequences of Self-Regeneration
VI. The Interpreting Self25. Codes, Signs, Interpreters
26. Kinds of Signs
VII. Implications27. A Constraint-Based Approach to Evolutionary Theory
28. Implications for the Free Will Debate?
29. Making Science Safe for Value
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Notes
Index
