Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior » (1)

Robert J. Richards is professor of history, philosophy, and behavioral science at the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science and director of the Program in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine.

With insight and wit, Robert J. Richards focuses on the development of evolutionary theories of mind and behavior from their first distinct appearance in the eighteenth century to their controversial state today. Particularly important in the nineteenth century were Charles Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, which Richards considers against the background of Darwin's personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community. Many critics have argued that the Darwinian revolution stripped nature of moral purpose and ethically neutered the human animal. Richards contends, however, that Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and their disciples attempted to reanimate moral life, believing that the evolutionary process gave heart to unselfish, altruistic behavior.

"Richards's book is now the obvious introduction to the history of ideas about mind and behavior in the nineteenth century."—Mark Ridley, Times Literary Supplement

"Not since the publication of Michael Ghiselin's The Triumph of the Darwinian Method has there been such an ambitious, challenging, and methodologically self-conscious interpretation of the rise and development and evolutionary theories and Darwin's role therein."—John C. Greene, Science

"His book . . . triumphantly achieves the goal of all great scholarship: it not only informs us, but shows us why becoming thus informed is essential to understanding our own issues and projects."—Daniel C. Dennett, Philosophy of Science

Booknews

Paper reprint of the winner of the 1988 Pfizer Prize, History of Science Society. Originally published in 1987. Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, considered against the background of his personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community, shape this history. Includes 33 pages of references. Cloth edition, $29.95 (unseen). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Illustrations Preface Introduction
1. Origins of Evolutionary Biology of Behavior Controversies over Animal Instinct and Intelligence in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Erasmus Darwin's Sensationalist Interpretation of Instinct and Evolution Cabanis's Revision of Sensationalism Lamarck: Behavior as Product and Instrument of Species Transformation Reactions of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle Conclusion
2. Behavior and Mind in Evolution: Charles Darwin's Early Theories of Instinct, Reason, and Morality Preparations of an Evolutionary Thinker Instinct and the Mechanisms of Species Change The Roots of Rational Thought The Evolution of Morality Appendix
3. Contributions of Natural Theology to Darwin's Theory of the Evolution of Mind and Behavior Disputes of Natural Theologians over Instinct and Intelligence Contributions to Darwin's Emerging Theory of Behavior The Wonderful Instincts of Neuter Insects Conclusion: Mind, Instinct, and Darwin's Delay
4. Debates of Evolutionists over Human Reason and Moral Sense, 1859-1871
Darwinian Disputes over Human Nature Wallace and the Challenge of Spiritualism
5. Darwin and the Descent of Human Rational and Moral Faculties Darwin's Descent of Man
Evolution of the Moral Sense and Intelligence Response of the Critics Expression of the Emotions Conclusion: Utilitarian and Darwinian Moral Theories
6. Spencer's Conception of Evolution as a Moral Force Early Life as a Nonconformist Social and Moral Science as Foundation of Evolutionary Theory The Development of Spencer's Theory of Evolution Mental Evolution: Empiricized Kantianism
7. Evolutionary Ethics: Spencer and His Critics Spencer's Ethical System Critics of Evolutionary Ethics Conclusion
8. Darwinism and the Demands of Metaphysics and Religion: Romanes, Mivart, and Morgan Prayer and the Imperatives of Scientific Reason Natural Selection and Natural Theology The Evolution of Mind Controversy with Mivart Evolution, Metaphysics, and the Return to Religion Morgan vs. Romanes on the Status of Comparative Psychology The Monistic Framework of Morgan's Science Morgan's Theory of Instinct Mental Evolution and the Theory of Organic Selection Conclusion: Science, Metaphysics, and Religion Appendix
9. The Personal Equation in Science: William James's Psychological and Moral Uses of Darwinian Theory James's Depressive Period, 1865-1878
The Psychological and Moral Uses of Darwinism Conclusion
10. James Mark Baldwin: Evolutionary Biopsychology and the Politics of Scientific Ideas Training in the Old Psychology for the New The Foundations of Baldwin's Psychological Science Genetic Psychology and the Theory of Imitation The Evolutionary Analysis of Consciousness in the Individual and the Race The Social Evolution of Knowledge and Morality Organic Selection and the Politics of Scientific Discovery Conclusion: Scandal and Professional Extinction
11. Transformation of the Darwinian Image of Man in the Twentieth Century Decline of Evolutionary Theory in the Social Sciences The Reactions of the Biological Community to Theories of Mental Evolution The Biology of Mind and Behavior in Germany: From Darwinism to Neo-Darwinism The Rise of Sociobiology Conclusion: Transformation in the Darwinian Image of Man and the Schism in Contemporary Evolutionary Theory Conclusion: Darwinism Is Evolutionary Appendix 1- The Natural-Selection Model and Other Models in the Historiography of Science Five Models in the Historiography of Science Evolutionary Models of Scientific Development Conclusion: The Natural Selection Model as a Historiographic Model Appendix 2- A Defense of Evolutionary Ethics Constructing an Evolutionary Ethics Objections to Evolutionary Ethics The "Naturalistic Fallacy" Describes No Fallacy Justification of Evolutionary Ethics Bibliography Index