Books : Man, Beast, and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us about Human Nature
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by: Kenan Malik
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 128
EAN: 9780813531229
ISBN: 0813531225
Label: Rutgers University Press
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 458
Publication Date: May 01, 2002
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Sales Rank: 501384
Studio: Rutgers University Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Are humans unique? Can animals think as we do? Will machines ever have consciousness? For centuries, attempts to answer these questions have been the stuff of both bar-room debates and intense theological and philosophical dispute. Now scientists claim they can solve these riddles of human existence once and for all. In so doing, they promise to upset many of the accepted ideas about morality and human nature. Man, Beast, and Zombie is an original and accessible book. Vast in its scope, it draws on cutting-edge sciences such as evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence to assess what, precisely, science can and cannot explain about human nature. Kenan Malik explains the histories of these sciences (and the philosophies that underpin them) and analyzes the complex relationship between human beings, animals, and machines to explore what really makes us human. Malik demonstrates that much current thinking about human nature is flawed: how there is more than one way to design a mind; why the lifestyles of contemporary hunter-gatherers do not illuminate the lives of our prehistoric ancestors; and what intelligent machines really reveal about human consciousness. He shows, too, how the scientific debate about human nature is as influenced by politics as by science. Man, Beast, and Zombie is both a defense of scientific reason and a challenge to some of today's most cherished scientific theories.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - A book too little read
Many people assume that the only ones who flinch from reductionist accounts of human nature are religious believers who 'lust after skyhooks' pace Dennett and are afraid of losing a sense of mystery, or have a godlike view of human nature they are anxious to preserve. Not so. This book, certainly one of the best introductions and critique of Darwinian theories of human nature on the market, shows that you do not have to be religious to feel concerned (and rightly so) about the extravagant claims ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent overview of current theories of human nature
First-rate guide to the history and current status of human nature. Overall it's depressing, which I took to be accurate reporting.
The first 100 pages are wonderful. Malik's history of human nature up to the mid-20th century I found brilliant, extremely insightful, the best account of that history I could imagine. Just those 100 pages would make this an extremely useful and valuable book. He does go at a fair clip, though, so it might not mean much to someone altogether new to the ... Read More
Rating: - A Balanced Assessment of the Evolutionary Psychology
Ever since Richard Dawkins preached modern 'Neo-Darwinism' in his book, 'The Selfish Gene', a tremendous debate has been raging in academic departments, and amoungst the general public, as to how influential the entities we call 'genes' are in determining human nature. .....
Those who know their history will recall that the current debates about genetics seem disturbingly close sometimes to the ideas about race, genetics and human nature in the early 20th century which ultimately culminated ... Read More
Rating: - The dehumanizing power of the scientific world-view
Is there such a thing? And if so how has this contributed to our confusion in defining ourselves? Pick one: man, beast or Zombie. Notice that I said pick one while Malik's title MAN, BEAST, AND ZOMBIE implies that the choices are not mutually exclusive; choosing all three is a valid selection. I'll defer to Malik and simply say that he's convincing with his arguments in this well written and thoughtful book.
Malik's main purpose with this book is to show that much of our current thinking about ... Read More
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