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In Neither Ghost nor Machine, Jeremy Sherman takes on a central mystery: How did the universe get from matter to mattering? Whence purpose? Whence selves? These are topics too easily ignored in our rush to find the molecular stuff of life and not the organizational what is of life. With this fine book, and that of Deacon, we are well launched. -- Stuart Kauffman, MacArthur Fellow, author of <i>At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity</i> Neither Ghost nor Machine reckons with the most profound questions one can ask about the nature of the self and of life on earth. It is the work of a fiercely inquisitive and original mind. -- Kaja Perina, editor in chief, <i>Psychology Today</i> When the Big Bang banged all there was was just the stuff of basic physics, fermions, bosons, and such. There was neither life nor mind. Now there is life all over the place and some of it is conscious. How is that possible? How could such things as life and mind emerge? Jeremy Sherman has written a clear, clever, witty guide to the new science of emergence championed by Terrence Deacon. This is a philosophical treasure trove that explains how novelty emerges without explanatory gaps and violations of the laws of nature. -- Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Duke University, author of <i>Consciousness Reconsidered</i> Finally! A breakthrough approach to fundamental questions that have gone unanswered for so long that many forget to ask them. Fascinating, profound! -- Daniel Ellsberg, behavioral economist, Right Livelihood Award recipient For those of us who call ourselves religious/spiritual naturalists, this book is sure to become an instant classic. Its narrative of how living beings are and came to be is rigorous, accessible, and lyrical, and will greatly deepen our affinity with the natural world and with one another. -- Ursula Goodenough, Washington University in St. Louis, author of <i>The Sacred Depths of Nature</i> Neither Ghost nor Machine is an eloquent manifesto in the movement to reclaim questions of purpose and agency for science. Presenting Terrence Deacon's account of the natural emergence of living agents, Jeremy Sherman casts aside the stale, old dichotomies to show us a new way of thinking scientifically about life. -- Jessica Riskin, author of <i>The Restless Clock: A History of the Centuries-Long Argument over What Makes Living Things Tick</i> Jeremy Sherman lucidly explicates the paradigm-changing vision of Terrence Deacon, which addresses the mysteries of the origin of living systems from the nonliving and the emergence of mind and purpose in a nature that is still the the process of evolving. -- Bruce H. Weber, coauthor of <i>Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural Selection</i> The persistent Western dualism of mind and matter is finally done for, and the burden of proof has shifted. Thanks to books like Neither Ghost Nor Machine, inspired by the work of Terrence Deacon, we are now crossing the threshold to a brave new self-understanding -- Loyal D. Rue, Luther College

In Neither Ghost nor Machine, Jeremy Sherman takes on a central mystery: How did the universe get from matter to mattering? Whence purpose? Whence selves? These are topics too easily ignored in our rush to find the molecular stuff of life and not the organizational what is of life. With this fine book, and that of Deacon, we are well launched. -- Stuart Kauffman, MacArthur Fellow, author of <i>At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity</i> Neither Ghost nor Machine reckons with the most profound questions one can ask about the nature of the self and of life on earth. It is the work of a fiercely inquisitive and original mind. -- Kaja Perina, editor in chief, <i>Psychology Today</i> When the Big Bang banged all there was was just the stuff of basic physics, fermions, bosons, and such. There was neither life nor mind. Now there is life all over the place and some of it is conscious. How is that possible? How could such things as life and mind emerge? Jeremy Sherman has written a clear, clever, witty guide to the new science of emergence championed by Terrence Deacon. This is a philosophical treasure trove that explains how novelty emerges without explanatory gaps and violations of the laws of nature. -- Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Duke University, author of <i>Consciousness Reconsidered</i> Finally! A breakthrough approach to fundamental questions that have gone unanswered for so long that many forget to ask them. Fascinating, profound! -- Daniel Ellsberg, behavioral economist, Right Livelihood Award recipient For those of us who call ourselves religious/spiritual naturalists, this book is sure to become an instant classic. Its narrative of how living beings are and came to be is rigorous, accessible, and lyrical, and will greatly deepen our affinity with the natural world and with one another. -- Ursula Goodenough, Washington University in St. Louis, author of <i>The Sacred Depths of Nature</i> Neither Ghost nor Machine is an eloquent manifesto in the movement to reclaim questions of purpose and agency for science. Presenting Terrence Deacon's account of the natural emergence of living agents, Jeremy Sherman casts aside the stale, old dichotomies to show us a new way of thinking scientifically about life. -- Jessica Riskin, author of <i>The Restless Clock: A History of the Centuries-Long Argument over What Makes Living Things Tick</i> Jeremy Sherman lucidly explicates the paradigm-changing vision of Terrence Deacon, which addresses the mysteries of the origin of living systems from the nonliving and the emergence of mind and purpose in a nature that is still the the process of evolving. -- Bruce H. Weber, coauthor of <i>Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural Selection</i> The persistent Western dualism of mind and matter is finally done for, and the burden of proof has shifted. Thanks to books like Neither Ghost Nor Machine, inspired by the work of Terrence Deacon, we are now crossing the threshold to a brave new self-understanding -- Loyal D. Rue, Luther College Clearly written and accessible to any reader with an interest in the Big Questions of Life and Mindedness. * Biosemiotics *

Author Information

Jeremy Sherman writes about biophilosophy, psychology, and politics. He teaches college courses across the social sciences and blogs for Psychology Today and Alternet. He has studied and collaborated with Terrence Deacon for twenty years. Terrence Deacon is professor of biological anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain (1997) and Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter (2011).

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