Evolutionary Emergence of Purposive Goals and Values: A Naturalistic Teleology

Author:   Donald A. Crosby
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
ISBN:  

9781438493961


Pages:   166
Publication Date:   02 February 2024
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Evolutionary Emergence of Purposive Goals and Values: A Naturalistic Teleology


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Overview

Where do the purposes, values, and existential meanings of the world come from? For many, they are conferred on the world and on humans within the world by a supernatural, transcendent, personal divine creator and sustainer. For others, they result from a God or divine presence residing within nature. For still others, they give evidence of mind and spirit as primordial principles suffusing nature from the outset and in all of its forms. In Evolutionary Emergence of Purposive Goals and Values, Donald A. Crosby takes issue with each of these views. His thesis is that mind, meaning, purpose, and value come into existence with the evolutionary emergence of life, and that evolution itself gives evidence of the creative power of two primordial natural principles: matter-energy and time. There is no overarching purpose, value, or meaning of nature as such, but there is a plethora of such factors evident in the evolved life forms of nature here on earth. This fact is especially evident in the day-to-day experiences, aspirations, and concerns of us evolutionarily-evolved human beings. Purpose, meaning, and value are therefore gifts of evolutionary nature, not of any supernatural or non-natural principle, presence, or power.

Full Product Details

Author:   Donald A. Crosby
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.227kg
ISBN:  

9781438493961


ISBN 10:   1438493967
Pages:   166
Publication Date:   02 February 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Six Interpretations of Teleology 2. Two Meanings of Telos 3. Teleology and Values 4. Evolutionary Origin and Development of Telic Values 5. Panpsychism and Emergent Novelty 6. Organization as the Key to Mind 7. Teleology and Two Kinds of Religious Faith Notes Works Cited Index

Reviews

"""Many today suspect that if one's worldview does not include the supernatural, then the world is a bleak place where value and meaning are merely subjective or illusory. Developing an emergentist account of value that takes the natural sciences seriously, Donald Crosby develops a religious philosophy that avoids nihilism while making sense of purpose-seeking animals like us."" — Kevin Schilbrack, author of Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto"


Author Information

Donald A. Crosby is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Colorado State University. He is the author of many books, including Sacred and Secular: Responses to Life in a Finite World, also published by SUNY Press.

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