Purpose and Desire - What Makes Something Alive and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to

A professor, biologist, and physiologist argues that modern Darwinism''s materialist and mechanistic biases have led to a scientific dead end, unable to define what life is--and only an openness to the qualities of "purpose and desire" will move the field forward. Scott Turner contends. "To be scientists, we force ourselves into a Hobson''s choice on the matter: accept intentionality and purposefulness as real attributes of life, which disqualifies you as a scientist; or become a scientist and dismiss life''s distinctive quality from your thinking. I have come to believe that this choice actually stands in the way of our having a fully coherent theory of life." Growing research shows that life''s most distinctive quality, shared by all living things, is purpose and desire: maintain homeostasis to sustain life. In Purpose and Desire, Turner draws on the work of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Darwin revered among physiologists as the founder of experimental medicine, to build on Bernard''s "dangerous idea" of vitalism, which seeks to identify what makes "life" a unique phenomenon of nature. To further its quest to achieve a fuller understanding of life, Turner argues, science must move beyond strictly accepted measures that consider only the mechanics of nature. A thoughtful appeal to widen our perspective of biology that is grounded in scientific evidence, Purpose and Desire helps us bridge the ideological evolutionary divide.

Product details

• Authors: J Scott Turner, J. Scott Turner, Turner J. Scott
• Publisher: Harper Collins Usa
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2018
• EAN: 9780062651570
• ISBN: 978-0-06-265157-0
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Genetics, genetic engineering; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; RELIGION / Religion & Science, Religion and science, EVOLUTION: GENERAL, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Evolution, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Biology, RELIGION: Religion & Science, RELIGION: SCIENCE AND RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY: Religious, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Cell Biology, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Molecular Biology, RELIGION: Philosophy, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Developmental Biology, RELIGION: Psychology of Religion