Ronald De Sousa

Why Think? (eBook, ePUB)

Evolution and the Rational Mind

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Why Think? What, exactly, is the evolutionary purpose of thinking? In this short and accessible book, Ronald de Sousa shows that in order to understand what is truly important about our reasoning capacity, we need to change our thinking about what rationality actually is. Rationality is not just a way of figuring out the world and acting efficiently in a changing environment; it is the wellspring for our emotions, our imagination, and most importantly, our faculty for language--a faculty which allows us to disagree with each other and develop our own, sometimes conflicting, individual value systems. While this may be inefficient, it is also what ultimately makes us human and explains our startling success.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. Juni 2007
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780190293536
• Artikelnr.: 42620175

Autorenporträt

Ronald de Sousa grew up in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. After completing school in France, he obtained a B.A. from Oxford, and a Ph.D. from Princeton. Based at the University of Toronto, he has lectured in over twenty countries on the emotions, philosophy of biology, ethics, and aesthetics. He lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Function and destiny
3. What's the good of thinking?
4. Rationality, individual and collective
5. Irrationality