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Contingency and Convergence: Toward a Cosmic Biology of Body and Mind

Name: Contingency and Convergence: Toward a Cosmic Biology of Body and Mind
Brand: MIT Press
SKU: 9780262043397
Price: 65.99 USD
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Contributors:

Russell Powell

Publisher:

MIT Press

Binding:

Hardcover

Book Category:

Science, Social Science

Book Subcategory:

Life Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Anthropology

Book Topic:

Evolution

Series:

Vienna Theoretical Biology #25

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The product is eligible for a complimentary return within 30 days from the date of purchase. Furthermore, individual items are shipped within 24 hours of receiving the order.

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Specifications +

Release Date:

2020-02-25

ISBN 13:

9780262043397

Weight:

1.5 lbs

Size:

9.20 x 6.10 x 1.00 inches

Pages:

328

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product description

Description

Can we can use the patterns and processes of convergent evolution to make inferences about universal laws of life, on Earth and elsewhere?

In this book, Russell Powell investigates whether we can use the patterns and processes of convergent evolution to make inferences about universal laws of life, on Earth and elsewhere. Weaving together disparate philosophical and empirical threads, Powell offers the first detailed analysis of the interplay between contingency and convergence in macroevolution, as it relates to both complex life in general and cognitively complex life in particular. If the evolution of mind is not a historical accident, the product of convergence rather than contingency, then, Powell asks, is mind likely to be an evolutionarily important feature of any living world?

Stephen Jay Gould argued for the primacy of contingency in evolution. Gould's "radical contingency thesis" (RCT) has been challenged, but critics have largely failed to engage with its core claims and theoretical commitments. Powell fills this gap. He first examines convergent regularities at both temporal and phylogenetic depths, finding evidence that both vindicates and rebuffs Gould's argument for contingency. Powell follows this partial defense of the RCT with a substantive critique. Among the evolutionary outcomes that might defy the RCT, he argues, cognition is particularly important--not only for human-specific issues of the evolution of intelligence and consciousness but also for the large-scale ecological organization of macroscopic living worlds. Turning his attention to complex cognitive life, Powell considers what patterns of cognitive convergence tell us about the nature of mind, its evolution, and its place in the universe. If complex bodies are common in the universe, might complex minds be common as well?

Contingency and Convergence: Toward a Cosmic Biology of Body and Mind

Description

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