Philosophy
Richard Dawkins is coming out with a great new illustrated book about how scientists come to have the knowledge they do, and it'll be released here in the US on my little niece's birthday, so guess what she'll be getting from her favorite uncle? :)
The following excerpt from the audio version of the book (read, as usual, by Dawkins himself and Lalla Ward) explores the kind of question that a young inquiring mind might ask her parents: who was the first person really?
Dawkins provides a wonderfully clear explanation not only of the answer but of the thought process required to try to come to grips with the significance of such a question. The greatest accomplishment, I think, is that the very same excerpt can be understood by children and it can stimulate adults to think about some of the philosophical implications of the answer, such as the sorites problem of what a species really is if no one's parents are ever members of a different species... and yet most of our ancestors do belong to different species.
Maybe I'll have to end up getting a copy for myself too :)
Update: Here's Dawkins briefly explaining what the book is about
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Philosophy
Richard Dawkins - So Who Was the First Person Really?
The following excerpt from the audio version of the book (read, as usual, by Dawkins himself and Lalla Ward) explores the kind of question that a young inquiring mind might ask her parents: who was the first person really?
Dawkins provides a wonderfully clear explanation not only of the answer but of the thought process required to try to come to grips with the significance of such a question. The greatest accomplishment, I think, is that the very same excerpt can be understood by children and it can stimulate adults to think about some of the philosophical implications of the answer, such as the sorites problem of what a species really is if no one's parents are ever members of a different species... and yet most of our ancestors do belong to different species.
Maybe I'll have to end up getting a copy for myself too :)
Update: Here's Dawkins briefly explaining what the book is about
- E.o. Wilson - Advice To Young Scientists
"The world needs you, badly." That's how celebrated evolutionary biologist and entomologist E.O. Wilson (also known as Darwin's heir, or the Lord of the Ants) begins this fascinating, amusing and inspirational TEDTalk presentation encouraging...
- Beautiful Minds - Richard Dawkins
If you've been following this blog for a while, you're probably familiar with the various documentaries, debates and lectures Richard Dawkins has delivered over the years. Sure, his fame of late has to do with the religion/atheism and creationism/evolution...
- Darwin: The Most Revolutionary Scientist Of All Time
150 years ago today, Chuck Darwin published his famous On the Origin of Species, so it's appropriate to dedicate today's entry to the brilliance and imaginative power of this radical intellectual. In the following thought-provoking lecture, Richard...
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