The two-volume Cambridge History of Atheism offers an authoritative and up to date account of a subject of contemporary interest. Comprised of sixty essays by an international team of scholars, this History is comprehensive in scope. The essays are written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and classics. Offering a global overview of the subject, from antiquity to the present, the volumes examine the phenomenon of unbelief in th...

Natural selection, as introduced by Charles Darwin in the Origin of Species (1859), has always been a topic of great conceptual and empirical interest. This book puts Darwin's theory of evolution in historical context showing that, in important respects, his central mechanism of natural selection gives the clue to understanding the nature of organisms. Natural selection has important implications, not just for the understanding of life's history – single-celled organism to man – but also f...

Darwinian evolutionary theory is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of science, yet it has been highly controversial since its first appearance in the On the Origin of Species in 1859. Well known is the opposition of so many Christians, an opposition that shows little sign of abating today. In The Problem of War, philosopher Michael Ruse argues that the roots of the unease lie not simply (as many think) in a straight clash between science and religion, but more deep...

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was one of the most significant revolutions in the history of science. Widely debated after the publication of the Origin of Species in 1859, it continues to be controversial. In this volume, Michael Ruse offers the definitive history of the theory of evolution through natural selection. Tracing Darwin's intellectual journey and experiences that lead him to his novel insights, Ruse explores his scientific contributions as well as their relationship to p...

"The book is full of empathetic, insightful, and often very funny portraits of Margulis, Lovelock, and a community of other figures associated with Gaia." —Carla Nappi, New Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyIn 1965 English scientist James Lovelock had a flash of insight: the Earth is not just teeming with life; the Earth, in some sense, is life. He mulled this revolutionary idea over for several years, first with his close friend the novelist William...

Why do we think ourselves superior to all other animals? Are we right to think so? In this book, Michael Ruse explores these questions in religion, science and philosophy. Some people think that the world is an organism - and that humans, as its highest part, have a natural value (this view appeals particularly to people of religion). Others think that the world is a machine - and that we therefore have responsibility for making our own value judgements (including judgements about ourselve...

The relationship between science and religion is a topic that runs rife with misconceptions, misunderstandings and debates. Are science and religion always in conflict? Is Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection atheistic? How does history shape current debates around science and religion? This book explores these questions in a neutral and balanced way, focusing on the Christianity-evolution relationship. It shows that two paradigms – the world as an organism and the world ...

Does human life have any meaning? Does the question even make sense today? For centuries, the question of the meaning or purpose of human life was assumed by scholars and theologians to have a religious answer: life has meaning because humans were made in the image of a good god. In the 19th century, however, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution changed everything-and the human organism was seen to be more machine than spirit. Ever since, with the rise of science and decline of religious b...

Over the last decade, "New Atheists" such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens have pushed the issue of atheism to the forefront of public discussion. Yet very few of the ensuing debates and discussions have managed to provide a full and objective treatment of the subject. Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know provides a balanced look at the topic, considering atheism historically, philosophically, theologically, sociologically and psychologically. Written in an...

A brief, accessible history of the idea of purpose in Western thought, from ancient Greece to the presentCan we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Kant thought we were stuck with purpose, and even Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which profoundly shook the idea, was unable to kill it. Indeed, teleological explanation—what Aristotle called understanding in terms of “final causes”—seems to be making a comeback today, as both religious propo...

Michael Ruse, a leading expert on Charles Darwin, presents a fictional dialogue among characters with sharply contrasting positions regarding the tensions between science and religious belief. Ruse's main characters—an atheist scientist, a skeptical historian and philosopher of science, a relatively liberal female Episcopalian priest, and a Southern Baptist pastor who denies evolution—passionately argue about pressing issues, in a context framed within a television show: "Science versus Go...

An insightful and probing exploration of the contradiction between humans' enormous capacity for hatred and their evolutionary development as a social species Why We Hate tackles a pressing issue of both longstanding interest and fresh relevance: why a social species like Homo sapiens should nevertheless be so hateful to itself. We go to war and are prejudiced against our fellow human beings. We discriminate on the basis of nationality, class, race, sexu...