The Grand Design by Stephen Hawkins and Leonard Mlodinow

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT THINKERS-A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE

When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent "grand design" of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion-or does science offer another explanation?

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet-if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

Freedom evolves by Daniel C. Dennett

Whenever people discus the concept of freedom, inevitably you will get an argument about freewill or the lack of it. So to clear the philosophical air, Dennett has to first dispel myths associated with determinism and freewill. Can one live freely and possess free will in a deterministic world? Dennett says yes and makes a strong argument for his case. In fact freedom and determinism live compatibly with each other because to make workable choices one must have reliable and predictable (determined) choices to choose from! If determinism holds true, then you have less randomness, less unpredictability. In a totally random universe, you can't have freedom because you can never know or predict the future in a reliable way. Now of course our universe contains both deterministic elements and random elements, and no doubt you need both for an evolutionary system to work, but the point aims to show that determinism does not mean inevitable, or fate. Fatalism claims that something will happen no matter what you do (a godly plan, many times, plays this role). Determinism depends on what you do.

Human Senescence:Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspectives

Much current research on the biology of senescence is on cell lines,
nematodes, or fruit flies, which may be only of peripheral relevance to
the problems encountered in human senescence. Human Senescence reviews
the evolutionary biology of human senescence and life span, and
the evolutionarily recent development of late-life survival. In examining
how human patterns of and variability in growth and development have
altered later life survival probabilities and competencies, how survival
during mid-life contributes to senescent dysfunction and alteration, and
the possibilities of further extending human life span, it gives a better understanding
of howhumans came to senesce as slowly as they do. Bringing

Content and Consciousness by Daniel C. Dennett

Content and Consciousness
Daniel C. Dennett










A pioneering work in the philosophy of mind, Content and Consciousness brings together the approaches of philosophers and scientists to the mind--a connection that must occur if genuine analysis of the mind is to be made.

WHAT IS DEATH?- A Scientist Looks at the Cycle of Life

They are the questions that have challenged philosophers, theologians, artists, and ordinary human beings for millennia: Why are we born only to die? Does death have meaning? What happens to our "selves" after we die? In What Is Death?, biologist Tyler Volk considers these piercing questions from a unique perspective that allows him to offer readers alternatives to many traditional religious explanations.
Inspired by his own confrontation with mysterious neurological problems, Volk embarks on a personal exploration of the meaning of death and its powerful implications about the meaning of life. The answers–and further questions–that he discovers by asking "What is death?" are surprising, diverse, uplifting, and extraordinarily life-affirming.
What Is Death? examines the phenomenon of death from organic, personal, and social points of view. It sheds light upon the life spans of creatures and the role of cell death in bodily health; contemplates the links among the personal confrontation with death, our brain, and consciousness; and probes the customs and rituals that surround death in various cultures.

How The Mind Works by Steven Pinker

 Theories of mind have always been shaped around images, metaphors, and analogies. The dominant picture of mind since the Renaissance--it is common to classical empiricism, which embraced consciousness, and modern behaviorism, which eschewed it--is the tabula rasa: the blank ledger upon which the environment leaves its trace as the mind is given whatever structure and content it finally possesses. Originally, the mind is conceived to be neutral, void, unbiased, plastic, undifferentiated--a mere vacuum awaiting the rush of sensory experience. The mind is able to copy experience, to detect its regularities, to order its deliverances into categories; but innately it is just a formless sponge soaking up the environmental contingencies. Behavior, in consequence, is under no innate constraint or predisposition; it simply reflects the experience of the organism, whatever that may be. Everything mental is up for grabs. There is no human nature. Our essence is nothingness.

The Outline Of Science

Was it not the great philosopher and mathematician Leibnitz who said that the more knowledge advances the more it becomes possible to condense it into little books? Now this "Outline of Science" is certainly not a little book, and yet it illustrates part of the meaning of Leibnitz's wise saying. For here within reasonable compass there is a library of little books—an outline of many sciences. It will be profitable to the student in proportion to the discrimination with which it is used. For it is not in the least meant to be of the nature of an Encyclopædia, giving condensed and comprehensive articles with a big full stop at the end of each. Nor is it a collection of "primers," beginning at the
very beginning of each subject and working methodically onwards. That is not the idea.

The Psychology of Mans Possible Evolution

Through a series of five lectures, the Russian philosopher whose writings include Tertium Organum and most recently In Search of the Miraculous (October 1, 1949- p. 567) considers the "forgotten science of psychology". Disregarding the study of man as he is or seems to be, with which the modern schools concern themselves, he turns to the study of man as he may be, what man's evolution means and the question of whether there are special conditions necessary to achieve it.

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature is a best-selling 2002 book by Steven Pinker arguing against tabula rasa models of the social sciences. Pinker argues that human behavior is substantially shaped by evolutionary psychological adaptations. The book was nominated for the 2003 Aventis Prizes and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Pinker argues that modern science has challenged three "linked dogmas" that constitute the dominant view of human nature in intellectual life:

• the blank slate (the mind has no innate traits) - empiricism
• the noble savage (people are born good and corrupted by society) - romanticism
• the ghost in the machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology)^[1] - mind/body dualism
  

Is Human Nature Obsolete - Genetics, Bioengineering and the Future of Human Condition

Is Human Nature Obsolete? collects papers given in 2001 at a conference at the University of Scranton with an introduction and one paper written specifically for the anthology. Organizers and editors Harold Baillie and Timothy Casey asked the conference participants to address two questions:

(1)   Does the genetic engineering of humans require a new understanding of what it means to be human?

(2)   Does what we know already suggest there should be (and can be) effective limits to what can be done?

Baillie and Casey introduce the collection, summarizing each essay and conveying the tone of engaging and engaged conversation at the aforementioned conference.

As in many discussions of these topics, the focus shifts from genetic engineering in particular to take in germ line modification, cloning, various artificial insemination techniques, and abortion. I shall refer to this collection of topics by the termtechnological intervention in reproduction. The contributors also discuss the use of genetic and molecular techniques in other areas of medicine, and in agriculture, manufacturing, and body modification.

The Art of Genes - How Organisms Make Themselves

 Over the past twenty years there has been a revolution in biology: for the first time we have begun to understand how organisms make themselves. The mechanisms by which a fertilised egg develops into an adult can now be grasped in a way that was unimaginable a few decades ago. Yet this revolution has been a curiously silent one. Our new picture of how organisms develop has been inaccessible to all but a small community of biologists. This is largely because the jargon and technical complexities have prevented many of the new and exciting findings from being communicated to a wider audience. Moreover, as scientists have concentrated on unravelling the
details of the story, many of the broader implications of our new found knowledge have remained unvoiced. In my view this is particularly unfortunate because the study of development provides one of the most fertile meeting grounds for science, art and philosophy.