Peter Godfrey-Smith

Broschiertes Buch

Metazoa

Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind

Beschreibung

"Enthralling . . . breathtaking . . . Metazoa brings an extraordinary and astute look at our own mind's essential link to the animal world." -The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) "A great book . . . [Godfrey-Smith is] brilliant at describing just what he sees, the patterns of behaviour of the animals he observes." -Nigel Warburton, Five Books The scuba-diving philosopher who wrote Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousness Dip below the ocean's surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms, whose rooted bodies, intricate geometry, and flower-like appendages are more reminiscent of plant life or even architecture than anything recognizably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom-the Metazoa-they can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds. In his acclaimed 2016 book, Other Minds, the philosopher and scuba diver Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of the octopus-the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In Metazoa, Godfrey-Smith expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of subjective experience with the assistance of far-flung species. As he delves into what it feels like to perceive and interact with the world as other life-forms do, Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the animal body well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path. In accessible, riveting prose, he charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary developments-eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move through and manipulate the environment-shaped the subjective lives of animals. Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded shrimp, octopus, and fish, then moving onto land and the world of insects, birds, and primates like ourselves, Metazoa gathers their stories together in a way that bridges the gap between mind and matter, addressing one of the most vexing philosophical problems: that of consciousness. Combining vivid animal encounters with philosophical reflections and the latest news from biology, Metazoa reveals that even in our high-tech, AI-driven times, there is no understanding our minds without understanding nerves, muscles, and active bodies. The story that results is as rich and vibrant as life itself.

Autor

Peter Godfrey-Smith is the author of the bestselling Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, which has been published in more than twenty languages, and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind. His other books include Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection, which won the 2010 Lakatos Award. He is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Picador
• Seitenzahl: 352
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. Oktober 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 207mm x 138mm x 27mm
• Gewicht: 316g
• ISBN-13: 9781250800268
• ISBN-10: 1250800269
• Artikelnr.: 60904942

Rezensionen

A Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

A BBC Science Focus Book of the Month

'This gentle approach won a wide readership for Godfrey-Smith's last book and deserves to do the same for this. But perhaps his exploratory style is well-suited, not just to the general reader, but to the problem of consciousness itself' Times Literary Supplement

'Enthralling ... A rather winning combination of not once ever making readers feel as if they are being lectured to; rather, it is the sensation of joining a wise, ever-patient friend on a time-traveling tour of the cognitive experiences of animals ... Metazoa brings an extraordinary and astute look at our own mind's essential link to the

animal world' Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times

'A profound scientific drama, in which the lives of quite un-human creatures illuminate deep mysteries about the nature of sentience, and what it means to possess a mind ... In Metazoa, the scuba-diving historian and philosopher of science tackles these questions with eloquent boldness ... As in Other Minds, Mr Godfrey-Smith recounts close encounters with marine fauna, gleaned from years of diving off the Australian coast. These have an electric immediacy ... Evocative [and] gripping' Barbara Kiser, Wall Street Journal

'Peter Godfrey-Smith's new book Metazoa is, like his last one, not only deeply interesting but beautifully written. Also, it finally taught me how to pronounce "cnidarian" properly' Philip Ball

'Peter Godfrey-Smith writes and thinks like no one else that I know of. He's well immersed in the science of life, a deep-diver into the philosophical implications of the factual world -
and a writer so skillful he can give a reader chills. Metazoa is his deepest dive to date on what life is' Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild

A Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

A BBC Science Focus Book of the Month

'This gentle approach won a wide readership for Godfrey-Smith's last book and deserves to do the same for this. But perhaps his exploratory style is well-suited, not just to the general reader, but to the problem of consciousness itself' Times Literary Supplement

'Enthralling ... A rather winning combination of not once ever making readers feel as if they are being lectured to; rather, it is the sensation of joining a wise, ever-patient friend on a time-traveling tour of the cognitive experiences of animals ... Metazoa brings an extraordinary and astute look at our own mind's essential link to the animal world' Aimee Nezhukumatathil,

New York Times

'A profound scientific drama, in which the lives of quite un-human creatures illuminate deep mysteries about the nature of sentience, and what it means to possess a mind ... In Metazoa, the scuba-diving historian and philosopher of science tackles these questions with eloquent boldness ... As in Other Minds, Mr Godfrey-Smith recounts close encounters with marine fauna, gleaned from years of diving off the Australian coast. These have an electric immediacy ... Evocative [and] gripping' Barbara Kiser, Wall Street Journal

'Peter Godfrey-Smith's new book Metazoa is, like his last one, not only deeply interesting but beautifully written. Also, it finally taught me how to pronounce "cnidarian" properly' Philip Ball

'Peter Godfrey-Smith writes and thinks like no one else that I know of. He's well immersed in the science of life, a deep-diver into the philosophical implications of the factual world -
and a writer so skillful he can give a reader chills. Metazoa is his deepest dive to date on what life is' Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild