Why Think? The Evolution of the Rational Mind

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Why Think? The Evolution of the Rational Mind
By Ronald de Sousa
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[li]     Publisher:          Oxford University Press, USA   [/li][li]     Number Of Pages:          200   [/li][li]     Publication Date:          2007-05-25   [/li][li]     ISBN-10 / ASIN:          019518985X   [/li][li]     ISBN-13 / EAN:          9780195189858   [/li][li]     Binding:          Hardcover   [/li]

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Book Description:
Ina world where natural selection has shaped adaptations of astonishingingenuity, what is the scope and unique power of rational thinking? Inthis short but wide-ranging book, philosopher Ronald de Sousa looks atthe twin set of issues surrounding the power of natural selection tomimic rational design, and rational thinking as itself a product ofnatural selection. While we commonly deem ourselves superior to otherspecies, the logic of natural selection should not lead us to expectthat nature does everything for the best. Similarly, rational actiondoes not always promote the best possible outcomes. So what is thedifference? Is the pursuit of rationality actually an effectivestrategy? Part of the answer lies in language, including mathematicsand science.Language is the most striking device by which we have made ourselvessmarter than our nearest primate cousins. Sometimes the purelyinstinctual responses we share with other animalsput explicit reasoning to shame: the movements of a trained athlete arefaster and more accurate than anything she could explicitly calculate.Language, however, with its power to abstract from concrete experienceand to range over all aspects of nature, enables breathtakingly precisecalculations, which have taken us to the moon and beyond. Mostimportantly, however, language enables us to formulate an endlessmultiplicity of values, in potential conflict with one another as wellas with instinctual imperatives. In short, this sophisticated andentertaining book shows how our rationality and our irrationality areinextricably intertwined. Ranging over a wide array of evidence, itexplores the true ramifications of being human in the natural world.



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