Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Creatures of Accident: The Rise of the Animal Kingdom

Creatures of Accident: The Rise of the Animal Kingdom

Arthur, Wallace

Paperback

Evolution

Publisher Price: $23.00

ISBN10: 0809037017
ISBN13: 9780809037018
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Published: Sep 4 2007
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.77
Height: 0.67 Width: 5.97 Depth: 8.33
Language: English

The most important aspect of evolution, from a philosophical viewpoint, is the rise of complex, advanced creatures from simple, primitive ones. This vertical dimension of evolution has been downplayed in both the specialist and popular literature on evolution, in large part because it was in the past associated with unsavory political views. The avoidance of evolution's vertical dimension has, however, left evolutionary biology open to the perception, from outside, that it deals merely with the diversification of rather similar creatures, all at the same level of advancedness from a common ancestor--for example, the classic case studies of finches with different beaks or moths of different colors.

The latest incarnation of creationism, dubbed intelligent design (or ID), has taken advantage of this situation. It portrays an evolutionary process that is constantly guided--especially in its upward direction--by the hand of an unseen Creator, who is able to ensure that it ends up producing humans. Creatures of Accident attacks the antiscience ID worldview, mainly by building a persuasive picture of how unaided evolution produces advanced creatures from simple ones by an essentially accidental process. Having built this picture, in the final chapter the book reflects on its religious implications.

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