Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It
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A professor, biologist, and physiologist argues that modern Darwinism’s materialist and mechanistic biases have led to a scientific dead end, unable to define what life is—and only an openness to the qualities of "purpose and desire" will move the field forward.
Scott Turner contends. "To be scientists, we force ourselves into a Hobson’s choice on the matter: accept intentionality and purposefulness as real attributes of life, which disqualifies you as a scientist; or become a scientist and dismiss life’s distinctive quality from your thinking. I have come to believe that this choice actually stands in the way of our having a fully coherent theory of life."
Growing research shows that life's most distinctive quality, shared by all living things, is purpose and desire: maintain homeostasis to sustain life. In Purpose and Desire, Turner draws on the work of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Darwin revered among physiologists as the founder of experimental medicine, to build on Bernard’s "dangerous idea" of vitalism, which seeks to identify what makes "life" a unique phenomenon of nature. To further its quest to achieve a fuller understanding of life, Turner argues, science must move beyond strictly accepted measures that consider only the mechanics of nature.
A thoughtful appeal to widen our perspective of biology that is grounded in scientific evidence, Purpose and Desire helps us bridge the ideological evolutionary divide.
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J. Scott Turner. (2017). Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)J. Scott Turner. 2017. Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)J. Scott Turner, Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It. HarperCollins, 2017.
MLA Citation (style guide)J. Scott Turner. Purpose & Desire: What Makes Something "Alive" and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It. HarperCollins, 2017.
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A professor, biologist, and physiologist argues that modern Darwinism’s materialist and mechanistic biases have led to a scientific dead end, unable to define what life is—and only an openness to the qualities of "purpose and desire" will move the field forward.
Scott Turner contends. "To be scientists, we force ourselves into a Hobson’s choice on the matter: accept intentionality and purposefulness as real attributes of life, which disqualifies you as a scientist; or become a scientist and dismiss life’s distinctive quality from your thinking. I have come to believe that this choice actually stands in the way of our having a fully coherent theory of life."
Growing research shows that life's most distinctive quality, shared by all living things, is purpose and desire: maintain homeostasis to sustain life. In Purpose and Desire, Turner draws on the work of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Darwin revered among physiologists as the founder of experimental medicine, to build on Bernard’s "dangerous idea" of vitalism, which seeks to identify what makes "life" a unique phenomenon of nature. To further its quest to achieve a fuller understanding of life, Turner argues, science must move beyond strictly accepted measures that consider only the mechanics of nature.
A thoughtful appeal to widen our perspective of biology that is grounded in scientific evidence, Purpose and Desire helps us bridge the ideological evolutionary divide.
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- source: Stephen C. Meyer, Ph.D., author of Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt
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"Poses a profound evidence-based challenge to the reductionist foundations of modern biology, showing that living organisms are much more than 'selfish genes.'" — Stephen C. Meyer, Ph.D., author of Signature in the Cell and Darwin's Doubt
"Illuminating and persuasive. Turner puts his finger on the most troubling problem with today's biological thinking and gives a fresh take on purpose as the solution. Careful readers will find it hard to disagree with him." — Douglas Axe, Director of Biologic Institute and Author of Undeniable
"All biologists serious about the foundations and epistemology of their discipline should read this. Not since Robert Rosen's Life Itself has there been such an eloquent, well-argued, and convincing argument for a theory of life based on the concept of organism." — Professor Jan-Hendrik S. Hofmeyr, Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University
"Here at last is a book steeped in the intricacies of how species evolve by an accomplished biologist who dares to address the question of why. This book is a must read for all those who follow the ongoing Neo-Darwinian-Intelligent Design debate." — Norm Book, Senior Director Carr-McClellan P.C.
"Ingenious mixture of science and philosophy that points out major defects in Darwinism and then delivers heterodox but provocative solutions...a highly thought-provoking book." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Turner argues that modern Darwinism has led us about as far as it can go, leaving questions related to the origin of life unanswered. The scientifically minded general reader will find this contrarian viewpoint ¬engaging." — Library Journal
"A good read and a strong pitch" — New York Times Book Review
"Poses a serious challenge to traditional biology . . . a must-read for everybody interested in the science of life and evolution . . . one of those rare science books which inquisitive laypeople will equally enjoy. Purpose and Desire will change the way you think of life." — Washington Book Review
"This beautifully written book, brimming with anecdotes and biological insights that only decades of field could provide, will leave readers moved by Turner's deep appreciation of life's exquisiteness, its richness, and diversity . . . a provocative thesis, but one that is a wonderfully rich read, thought-provoking, and highly recommended." — The Quarterly Review of Biology
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July 15, 2017
An exploration of how "there is something presently wrong with how...scientists think about life, its existence, its origins, and its evolution."The discipline of biology is in crisis, writes Turner (Biology/SUNY Coll. of Environmental Science and Forestry; The Tinkerer's Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself, 2009, etc.) in this ingenious mixture of science and philosophy that points out major defects in Darwinism and then delivers heterodox but provocative solutions. That biology is in crisis may be news to readers, but the author points out that no Darwinian explanation exists for the origin of life or the origin of the cornerstone of modern biology, the gene. Darwinism also has a "hard time explaining what an organism is, or why...living things are actually (not apparently) well-designed." Aware that alarm bells will sound, Turner denies proposing intelligent design but adds that the obstacle is philosophical: biologists must accept that Darwinian evolution is a "phenomenon rife with purpose, intentionality, and striving." This is vitalism--not the mystical 19th-century life force but the obvious ability of living organisms to maintain internal consistency in the face of environmental perturbation. Mostly, the book is a virtuosic, if revisionist, history of evolutionary thought that rehabilitates traditionally scorned figures (Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Georges Cuvier), reinterprets celebrated 19th-century French physiologist Claude Bernard's ideas on homeostasis, and delivers admiring portraits of the geniuses of modern evolutionary ideas (Lewis Henry Morgan, Ronald Fisher, Sewall Wright, J.B.S. Haldane) without backing down from Turner's insistence that they missed something. Creationists happily trumpet any criticism of Darwinism as proof that it's false, but Turner is only proposing that the strictly materialist approach to studying life could use some help. That organisms strive is not magic but an emergent property. An unsettling but highly thought-provoking book.COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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August 1, 2017
Turner (environmental & biology, State Univ. of New York Coll. of Environmental Science & Forestry; The Tinkerer's Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself) contends that since the early 20th century, biology has been reduced to materialism and mechanics, chemistry and physics. When we can explain the processes that animate so many nonliving systems, such as weather and computer algorithms, what makes human life unique? Turner asserts that it is agency, striving, and cognition, which he defines as the ability to be aware of one's external environment and alter one's internal environment to achieve a particular state (also known as homeostasis). He calls into question our definition of organism as well, considering systems such as social insects' colonies, algal mats, etc. In examining the development of modern evolutionary theory based on genetic heredity and adaptation, he finds that explanations of the latter lack a coherent definition free from assumptions. While he doesn't advocate for intelligent design, he is unabashedly a neovitalist and argues that modern Darwinism has led us about as far as it can go, leaving questions related to the origin of life unanswered. VERDICT The scientifically minded general reader will find this contrarian viewpoint engaging.--Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Scott Turner contends. "To be scientists, we force ourselves into a Hobson’s choice on the matter: accept intentionality and purposefulness as real attributes of life, which disqualifies you as a scientist; or become a scientist and dismiss life’s distinctive quality from your thinking. I have come to believe that this choice actually stands in the way of our having a fully coherent theory of life."
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