000			02266 a2200253 4500
001			1412847605
005			20250317100351.0
008			250312042012GB eng
020			_a9781412847605
037			_bTaylor & Francis _cGBP 46.99 _fBB
040			_a01
041			_aeng
072	7		_aQD _2thema
072	7		_aHP _2bic
072	7		_aPHI000000 _2bisac
072	7		_aPHI012000 _2bisac
072	7		_a128 _2bisac
100	1		_aJames F. Harris
245	1	0	_aAscent of Man _bA Philosophy of Human Nature
250			_a1
260			_aOxford _bRoutledge _c20120215
300			_a272 p
520			_bThe Ascent of Man develops a comprehensive theory of human nature. James F. Harris sees human nature as an emergent property that supervenes a cluster of properties. Despite significant overlap between individuals that have human nature and those that are biologically human, the concept of human nature developed in this book is different. Whether biologically human or not, an individual may be said to possess human nature. This theory of human nature is called the"cluster theory." Harris takes as his point of departurePlato's comment that in learning what a thing is we should look to the ways in which it acts upon or is acted upon by other things. He commits to a methodological naturalism and draws upon current views from the social and biological sciences. The cluster theory he develops represents one of the very few completely novel theories of human nature developed in the post-Darwin era. It will prove most useful in dealing with philosophical questions involving such contemporary issues as cloning, cybernetics, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The fundamental conceptual issue is how plastic and elastic is the nature of human nature. Just how different might we imagine human beings to be and still be human in the sense that they still possess whatever it is that accounts for a unique nature? The theory of human nature developed in this book is a descriptive, dynamic, bottom-up, non-essentialist, naturalist theory. Harris is well versed in classical philosophy and contemporary behavioral science. He writes in a graceful, open-ended way that both educates and illuminates renewed interest in what it means to be human.
999			_c181 _d181