Table of Contents

1. Charles Darwin and his revolution; 2. The fact of evolution; 3. The origin of life; 4. The path of evolution; 5. The cause of evolution; 6. Limitations and restrictions; 7. Humans; 8. Fact or fiction?; 9. Dishonest science; 10. Philosophy; 11. Literature; 12. Religion.

Promotional Information

This book presents an ardent defence of Darwin's theory of evolution, exploring recent controversies such as Creationism.

About the Author

Michael Ruse is one of the world's leading authorities on the history and philosophy of Darwinian evolutionary theory. He is the author of many books; his most recent book with Cambridge University Press is The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology (2007) with David L. Hull. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he has been a Herbert Spencer Lecturer at Oxford University and a Gifford Lecturer at Glasgow University, and he has also held Guggenheim and Isaak Walton Killiam fellowships.

Reviews

'As a philosopher, Ruse is well placed to discuss Darwinism's ethical, religious and philosophical dimensions. If the discontents stay with his book long enough to reach its later chapters, they will find material that transcends the conventional empirical challenges to their disbelief.' Nature 'Anyone who wants to understand evolutionary theory and the fascinating issues that surround it, can find no better place than Michael Ruse's Darwinism and Its Discontents. He discusses the objections raised to evolutionary theory down through the most legitimate to those that are anything but legitimate. His discussions are fair, measured and informed. High school students, undergraduates and the public at large would find this book worth reading.' David Hull, Northwestern University