The Human Instinct
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Narrated by:
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Fred Sanders
About this listen
A radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will.
Lately, the most passionate advocates of the theory of evolution seem to present it as bad news. Scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation. We are just one species among multitudes and therefore no more significant than any other living creature.
Now comes Brown University biologist Kenneth R. Miller to make the case that this view betrays a gross misunderstanding of evolution. Natural selection surely explains how our bodies and brains were shaped, but Miller argues that it’s not a social or cultural theory of everything. In The Human Instinct, he rejects the idea that our biological heritage means that human thought, action, and imagination are predetermined, describing instead the trajectory that ultimately gave us reason, consciousness, and free will. A proper understanding of evolution, he says, reveals humankind in its glorious uniqueness - one foot planted firmly among all of the creatures we’ve evolved alongside and the other in the special place of self-awareness and understanding that we alone occupy in the universe.
Equal parts natural science and philosophy, The Human Instinct is a moving and powerful celebration of what it means to be human.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2018 Kenneth R. Miller. All rights reserved. (P)2018 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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This revised edition of Human Nature begins a new phase in the most important intellectual controversy of this generation: Is human behavior controlled by the species' biological heritage? Does this heritage limit human destiny?
With characteristic pungency and simplicity of style, the author of Sociobiology challenges old prejudices and current misconceptions about the nature-nurture debate.
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A Heralding Voice...
- By Douglas on 07-22-14
By: Edward O. Wilson
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Evolution
- The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory
- By: Edward J. Larson
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Edward J. Larson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and eminent science historian. This marvelously readable, yet sumptuously erudite work traces the development of the scientific theory of evolution. From Darwin's essential trip to the Galápagos, to the most contemporary studies in sociobiology, this work takes listeners both into the field and laboratories of the world's greatest evolutionary scientists, and shows how the theory of evolution has itself evolved.
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An Excellent History!
- By Bradly D. Elder on 08-13-07
By: Edward J. Larson
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Leonardo's Brain
- Understanding da Vinci's Creative Genius
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Bestselling author Leonard Shlain explores the life, art, and mind of Leonardo da Vinci, seeking to explain his singularity by looking at his achievements in art, science, psychology, and military strategy (yes), and then employing state of the art left-right brain scientific research to explain his universal genius. Shlain shows that no other person in human history has excelled in so many different areas as Da Vinci and he peels back the layers to explore the how and the why.
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As distracted as Da Vinci
- By D. McCracken on 05-12-15
By: Leonard Shlain
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Why Darwin Matters
- The Case for Evolution and Against Intelligent Design
- By: Michael Shermer
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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Columnist and publisher Michael Shermer, once an evangelical Christian and a creationist, argues that Intelligent Design proponents invoke a combination of ad science, political antipathy, and flawed theology in their new brand of creationism. He refutes their pseudoscientific arguments and then demonstrates why conservatives and people of faith can and should embrace evolution. Why Darwin Matters is an incisive examination of what is at stake in the debate over evolution.
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TOTAL MISREPRENTATION: WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?
- By Theo Tsourdalakis on 09-04-11
By: Michael Shermer
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The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
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Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
- By Eric on 01-15-12
By: Richard Dawkins
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The Ravenous Brain
- How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning
- By: Daniel Bor
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science. In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and proposes a new model for how consciousness works.
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Effectively demystifies consciousness
- By Gary on 11-18-12
By: Daniel Bor
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Know This
- Today's Most Interesting and Important Scientific Ideas, Discoveries, and Developments
- By: John Brockman
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Dan John Miller
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Scientific developments radically alter our understanding of the world. Whether it's technology, climate change, health research, or the latest revelations of neuroscience, physics, or psychology, science has, as Edge editor John Brockman says, "become a big story, if not the big story". In that spirit this new addition to Edge.org's fascinating series asks a powerful and provocative question: What do you consider the most interesting and important recent scientific news?
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Pete and Repeat and Re-repeat
- By Daniel L on 02-25-18
By: John Brockman
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At the Edge of Uncertainty
- 11 Discoveries Taking Science by Surprise
- By: Michael Brooks
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The atom, the big bang, DNA, natural selection - all are ideas that have revolutionized science; and all were dismissed out of hand when they first appeared. The surprises haven't stopped in recent years, and in At the Edge of Uncertainty, best-selling author Michael Brooks investigates the new wave of radical insights that are shaping the future of scientific discovery.
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All smoke, no fire
- By Kenton on 07-25-15
By: Michael Brooks
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The Devil's Delusion
- Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions
- By: David Berlinski
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Militant atheism is on the rise. In recent years, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens have produced a steady stream of best-selling books denigrating religious belief. These authors are merely the leading edge of a larger movement that includes much of the scientific community. In response, mathematician David Berlinski, himself a secular Jew, delivers a biting defense of religious thought.
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Riddled With Problems
- By Ben on 11-01-13
By: David Berlinski
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What Is Life?
- How Chemistry Becomes Biology
- By: Addy Pross
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrdinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: What is life?. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and ever since. Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology?
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Profound & Life Changing...
- By Daegan Smith on 04-06-15
By: Addy Pross
What listeners say about The Human Instinct
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- Anonymous User
- 10-07-20
THE HUMAN INSTINCT
only two words to describe this book, GREAT BOOK,it has changed my perception about evolution.
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- Fernando Hoces de Guardia
- 08-06-18
If you like Pinker you should read this
Evolutionary psychology provides a compelling argument to many elements of human behaviour. However, it can also be used as a way of explaining away, or justifying, complex issues that we do not know much about. The human instinct is an excellent read to counterpoint most of the popular literature out there. Not sure the author is saying its all wrong, he is just adding the much-needed not-so-cool caveats that a sale-driven author might not want to include
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- Gary
- 07-01-18
Special pleading does not make you special
Man is special, creationist will say because God (Jehovah) created him in His Own image and thus allows man to stand apart from nature. The author will say that evolution through natural selection makes us significant, meaningful and special from and within nature and that we are more than just form and matter in motion. The author will say there is specialness for humans and while the universe was not teleologically driven to create us as an end point we are special beyond ourselves because of our conscious self awareness, reason and free will.
Humans as individuals take a stand on their own understanding. That makes us different but not necessarily special beyond ourselves. The meaning we have comes from our own search of the true, the good and the useful. (The author did quote from Kant and that is what Kant thought all philosophy should be about).
The author showed little depth on philosophical matters. He rightly mocked evolutionary psychologist when they extrapolated beyond the data. The author does mention Titus Lucretius and his ‘On the Nature of Things’. As the preacher said to Tom Joad in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, ‘there ain’t no virtue, there ain’t no sin. There are just people doing things’. That is definitely an Epicurean sentiment and this author’s whole book is meant to disagree with that point of view. He thinks people are special beyond themselves, and our conscious self awareness, reason, and free will makes us special. I would say: logic preserves truth, it never creates truth; our reason is the label we put on things to justify ourselves to ourselves or others. Proust will say that ‘humans are the only animal that doubts their own reason’ in Volume II of ‘Swans Way’. It is our ability to doubt ourselves that make us human but not special, significant or meaningful beyond ourselves.
I can’t really say the author told me anything I didn’t already know. I’ve read or am at least very familiar with most of the people he talks about (Pinker, Harris, Dennett, Gould, Dawkins, Penrose, Nagel, Descartes, Kant and so on). His free will arguments lacked substance, and I don’t even want to bother refuting them.
We only have so much time to learn about our place in the universe. The author takes a perspective that is different from mine. I usually appreciate different perspectives, and the author impressed me with his biology knowledge. He was not impressive with his knowledge on Philosophy of Mind, neuroscience, reason, free will or philosophy or whenever he dropped a dead philosopher’s name all topics that he tried to talk about but only managed a superficial telling. I would recommend ‘Strange Order of Things’ by Damasio or ‘The Enigma of Reason’ by Hugo Mercier instead of this book. They cover most of the topics in this book but they at least provided depth for the topics under consideration and neither book fell into the trap of making humans special, significant or meaningful beyond themselves.
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5 people found this helpful