Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents a collection of linked essays written by one of the leading philosophers of biology, Kim Sterelny, on the topic of biological evolution. These essays, some never before published, form a coherent whole that defends not just an overall conception of evolution, but also a distinctive take on cognitive evolution.
Trade Review'… a wonderful collection of essays. Everyone interested in the philosophy of biology and in evolutionary philosophy of mind should read these essays.' Erkenntnis
Table of ContentsPart I. Overview: 1. Evolution and agency: a user's guide; Part II. Replication and Interaction: 2. Return of the gene (with Philip Kitcher); 3. The gxtended replicator (with Kelly Smith and Mike Dickison); 4. The return of the group; Part III. Evolution and Macroevolution: 5. Punctuated equilibrium and macroevolution; 6. Explanatory pluralism in evolutionary biology; 7. Darwin's tangled bank; Part IV. The Descent of the Mind: 8. Where does thinking come from? A commentary on Peter Godfrey Smith's Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature; 9. Basic minds; 10. Intentional agency and the metarepresentation hypothesis; 11. Situated agency and the descent of desire; 12. The evolution of agency.
