Cart
Free Shipping in Australia
Proud to be B-Corp

The Edge of Evolution Ronald Edwards

The Edge of Evolution By Ronald Edwards

The Edge of Evolution by Ronald Edwards


$96.19
Condition - New
Only 2 left

Summary

The book presents a re-reading of H. G. Wells' novel The Island of Doctor Moreau as a key to addressing the controversies of our own humanity. It raises the issue: without human exceptionalism, where do ethics come from?

The Edge of Evolution Summary

The Edge of Evolution: Animality, Inhumanity, and Doctor Moreau by Ronald Edwards

The book presents a re-reading of H. G. Wells' novel The Island of Doctor Moreau as a key to addressing the controversies of our own humanity. Ron Edwards is a broadly-experienced researcher and teacher specializing in evolutionary theory, as well as a long-time participant in animal care oversight at a leading research institution. His careful examination in this book looks strictly at the novel's actual story to rehabilitate it from the widespread distorted version, and argues that the real story provides an outstanding means to confront human exceptionalism, a prevailing stopping-point for science and ethics. It integrates literature, history, and science; it bluntly criticizes, discloses, and advocates; and it combines accuracy with clarity, directed toward a lay audience. Finally, the book also raises a genuinely new and relevant issue: with human exceptionalism abolished, where do ethics come from?

The Edge of Evolution Reviews

Edwards takes us on a thoughtful exploration of the many far-reaching implications of a profoundly important, though often deeply disturbing, scientific fact: that we humans are animals. Furthermore, Edwards revisits The Island of Dr. Moreau, the classic, but widely misunderstood, 19th century novel by HG Wells, written to address the false human-animal dichotomy, and thus providing a refreshing literary approach to this topic for a general audience. --Dustin Penn, Head of the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

About Ronald Edwards

Ron Edwards is an author and most recently served as an Assistant Professor, DePaul University

Table of Contents

PART ONE: NOT MEANT TO KNOW Chapter 1: The Paw Taking exception / Science and fiction / Science fiction Chapter 2: The Ism that Wasn't It does not please you / Darwin in the middle / Two windows Chapter 3: Don't Meddle Movies and Moreau / Sorcery / Life science PART TWO: THE THING IS AN ABOMINATION Chapter 4: The House of Pain No pain, no gain / Moreau 1, Prendick 0 / Pain is real Chapter 5: Into the Lab and Onto the Slab In the book / How / But why PART THREE: POOR BEASTS Chapter 6: All the Difference Moreau's Man / Prendick's gaze / No! / The virago Chapter 7: To the Beasts You May Go No threshold / Selection and its discontents / The Valley PART FOUR: NO ESCAPE Chapter 8: That is the Law Whose Law? / Hell is real / The Jesus moment / The rebel Chapter 9: Beast Monsters The taste of blood / The stubborn beast flesh / The horror Chapter 10: Big Thinks Suffering and philosophy / Science and humanity

Additional information

NPB9780190212094
9780190212094
0190212098
The Edge of Evolution: Animality, Inhumanity, and Doctor Moreau by Ronald Edwards
New
Hardback
Oxford University Press Inc
2016-04-07
296
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Customer Reviews - The Edge of Evolution