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"Ruse, Michael, author"
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On faith and science
A captivating historical survey of the key debates, questions, and controversies at the intersection of science and religion Throughout history, scientific discovery has clashed with religious dogma, creating conflict, controversy, and sometimes violent dispute. In this enlightening and accessible volume, distinguished historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Larson and Michael Ruse, philosopher of science and Gifford Lecturer, offer their distinctive viewpoints on the sometimes contentious relationship between science and religion. The authors explore how scientists, philosophers, and theologians through time and today approach vitally important topics, including cosmology, geology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, gender, and the environment. Broaching their subjects from both historical and philosophical perspectives, Larson and Ruse avoid rancor and polemic as they address many of the core issues currently under debate by the adherents of science and the advocates of faith, shedding light on the richly diverse field of ideas at the crossroads where science meets spiritual belief.
eBook
Charles Darwin
The definitive work on the philosophical nature and impact of the theories of Charles Darwin, written by a well-known authority on the history and philosophy of Darwinism. - Broadly explores the theories of Charles Darwin and Darwin studies - Incorporates much information about modern Biology - Offers a comprehensive discussion of Darwinism and Christianity – including Creationism – by one of the leading authorities in the field - Written in clear, concise, user-friendly language supplemented with quality illustrations - Examines the status of evolutionary theory as a genuine theory and its implications for philosophy, epistemology and ethics - Provides a strong understanding of the philosophical nature and impact of Darwin's thought - Holds wide appeal for general audiences outside the world of academic philosophy - Strongly supports Darwinism and fully explores modern naturalistic explanations of religion
eBook
A meaning to life
\"In an empty universe without God, governed by scientific principles, can human life have any deeper meaning? Where might secular people find comfort and meaning, if not in the answers traditionally provided by religion? Answers on this question range wildly - from a negative, nihilistic pessimism that argues that real meaning is impossible, to scientists like E.O. Wilson who find a thinner kind of meaning in the promise of scientific progress. Michael Ruse's short book argues that, contrary to both, finding meaning without God is possible, if we embrace our true nature. Drawing on his expertise on evolutionary theory, Ruse advances a view he calls \"Darwinian existentialism.\" Darwinism is traditionally seen to place human life within a soulless, mechanistic universe. But far from a bleak existentialism, Ruse argues that Darwinism can actually provide a positive framework for meaning in life. Over the millennia, evolution has produced within us a very real biological \"human nature\" that has ingrained in us unique traits like the ability to reason, the need for the comfort of family and friends, the love of beauty, and others. Arguing against both the pessimists and the scientific optimists, Ruse argues that it is only by embracing our deepest human nature, formed by evolutionary processes, that we can find meaning in life. Written in a personal style, and tracing the efforts of many others on the same question, from Sartre to Richard Dawkins, Ruse's thoughtful and deeply informed short volume should appeal to a wide readership interested in the question of the meaning of life\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
The Evolution-Creation Struggle
In his latest book, Ruse uncovers surprising similarities between evolutionist and creationist thinking. Exploring the underlying philosophical commitments of evolutionists, he reveals that those most hostile to religion are just as evangelical as their fundamentalist opponents. But more crucially, and reaching beyond the biblical issues at stake, he demonstrates that these two diametrically opposed ideologies have, since the Enlightenment, engaged in a struggle for the privilege of defining human origins, moral values, and the nature of reality.
eBook
Darwin and design : does evolution have a purpose?
The intricate forms of living things bespeak design, and thus a creator: nearly 150 years after Darwin's theory of natural selection called this argument into question, we still speak of life in terms of design--the function of the eye, the purpose of the webbed foot, the design of the fins. Why is the \"argument from design\" so tenacious, and does Darwinism--itself still evolving after all these years--necessarily undo it?
The definitive work on these contentious questions, Darwin and Design surveys the argument from design from its introduction by the Greeks, through the coming of Darwinism, down to the present day. In clear, non-technical language Michael Ruse, a well-known authority on the history and philosophy of Darwinism, offers a full and fair assessment of the status of the argument from design in light of both the advances of modern evolutionary biology and the thinking of today's philosophers--with special attention given to the supporters and critics of \"intelligent design.\"
The first comprehensive history and exposition of Western thought about design in the natural world, this important work suggests directions for our thinking as we move into the twenty-first century. A thoroughgoing guide to a perennially controversial issue, the book makes its own substantial contribution to the ongoing debate about the relationship between science and religion, and between evolution and its religious critics.
eBook
The Darwinian paradigm : essays on its history, philosophy, and religious implications
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species is now 130 years old, yet it continues to provoke fierce and impassioned debate. Michael Ruse, a distinguished champion of Darwin's theory of evolution, here presents a collection of essays - many previously unpublished - which look at Darwinism from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Written in a lively and accessible style, these essays cover philosophical and theological as well as scientific issues. Michael Ruse's claims are often highly controversial, particularly in discussions on the relations between science and religion, and they should provoke much comment.
eBook
Evolutionary Naturalism
A collection of essays on the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology which put the theory of knowledge and of moral behaviour on a philosophical basis informed by contemporary evolutionary biological theory.
eBook
Science and Spirituality
Michael Ruse offers a new analysis of the often troubled relationship between science and religion. Arguing against both extremes - in one corner, the New Atheists; in the other, the Creationists and their offspring the Intelligent Designers - he asserts that science is the highest source of human inquiry. Yet, by its very nature and its deep reliance on metaphor, science restricts itself and is unable to answer basic, significant questions about the meaning of the universe and humankind's place within it: why is there something rather than nothing? What is the meaning of it all? Ruse shows that one can legitimately be a skeptic about these questions, and yet why it is open for a Christian, or member of any faith, to offer answers. Scientists, he concludes, should be proud of their achievements but modest about their scope. Christians should be confident of their mission but respectful of the successes of science.
eBook