Evolution's First Philosopher: John Dewey and the Continuity of Nature Book

Reading Guide     xi
Evolution and Philosophy     1
Introduction     1
Darwin's Influence on Dewey     3
Russell's Rejection of Evolution     5
What about Genetic Determinism?     8
Ultranaturalism     10
The Discussion Thus Far     12
Consider Reading     13
Theory of Evolution
What Is Darwinian Evolution?     17
Introduction     17
Sources of Variation     19
Three Kinds of Selection     25
The X and Y Chromosomes     28
Lamarckian Evolution     31
The Discussion Thus Far     35
Consider Reading     35
Preparedness versus Plasticity     37
Dewey and Unlearned Activities     37
Where Impulses Come From     40
Preparedness versus Plasticity     43
Is Euclidean Geometry Innate?     46
The Discussion Thus Far     50
Consider Reading     51
Brain Development and the Emergence of the Mind     53
The Triune View of the Brain     53
The Brain and Information Processing     54
Neuron Elimination     57
The Theory of Memes     60
From Consciousness to Mindedness     64
The Mind as a Virtual Machine     68
The Discussion Thus Far     70
Consider Reading     71
Morality Naturalized
Can Evolution Tell Us What to Do?     75
Does Natural Selection Have Foresight?     75
The Problem of the Normative     79
Dewey's Solution     81
Democracy as Means     84
Intelligence as End     86
Means-Ends Logic     89
The Discussion Thus Far     93
Consider Reading     94
Democracy and the Baldwin Effect     95
Intelligence as Inherently Social     95
The Moral Context of Growth     97
Dewey's Criteria for Democracy     101
The Baldwin Effect     103
Democracy and the Baldwin Effect     106
Memeopathy as an Obstacle to Growth     110
Developing Autonomous Agents     111
Philosophy for a Small Planet     114
The Discussion Thus Far     117
Consider Reading     117
Evolution and Liberalism     119
Introduction     119
Three Views of the Individual-Society Relationship      120
Classical Liberalism     122
Dewey's New Liberalism     126
Why Nondemocratic Schools Are Miseducative     128
Thomas West's Attack on Dewey's Progressive Liberalism     130
Thomas West versus Thomas Jefferson     134
Is Dewey's Theory of Mind Too Optimistic?     136
The Discussion Thus Far     140
Consider Reading     140
Afterword     141
Bibliography     143
Index     149