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Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False, by Thomas Nagel.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | McGinn, Colin |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | The problems with this book begin with the provocative subtitle, bleeding into the introductory chapter and its polemical sequel. Nagel just assumes from the start that modern Darwinism is committed to materialist reductionism. Then he attacks evolutionary theory, as it exists today, for being reductionist. But metaphysical materialism and evolutionary theory are logically independent of eacb other, so the faults of the former do not transfer to the latter. He thus attacks a straw man. Nagel persistently asserts that proponents of the science of evolution are materialists, calling this the 'orthodox view'; but he gives no citations to actual biologists, footnoting only Steven Weinberg, a physicist. However, even if they did in fact hold that metaphysical position, the apparatus of Darwinian explanation is surely not committed to it. Nagel just conflates the two questions throughout his book. There is absolutely nothing to prevent an anti-reductionist about consciousness, cognition and value from espousing Darwin's theory of the origin of species by mutation and natural selection — and I strongly suspect that this is the orthodox view (it is certainly my view). So far as I can see, even idealism and Cartesian dualism are consistent with Darwinism. Nagel thinks that scientists interested in the origin of life approach the question with materialist assumptions: tbey seek a chemical explanation because tbey are diehard reductionists. But this is surely wrong: they look to chemistry simply because chemicals were the only stuff around on earth before early life (in the form of bacteria) arose. Later traits of organisms might be irreducible (being genuinely emergent), but the origin of life must have begun in non-life (unless we think life goes all the way back to the big bang). Oddly, Nagel says nothing about the actual theories that have been proposed, such as Cairn-Smith's crystal replication theory or the idea |
| Starting Page | 582 |
| Ending Page | 585 |
| Page Count | 4 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1093/mind/fzt059 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://fewd.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/inst_ethik_wiss_dialog/Nagel__Thomas_2012_Mind_and_Cosmos_-__Reviewed_in_MInd_2013_by_Collin_McGinn.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1093/mind%2Ffzt059 |
| Volume Number | 122 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
