Evolution and the Big Questions

This provocative text considers whether evolutionary explanations can be used to clarify some of life's biggest questions. It offers a lively, informative, and timely look at a wide variety of key issues facing all of us today-including questions of race, sex, gender, the nature of language, religion, ethics, knowledge, consciousness and ultimately, the meaning of life. Some of the questions examined are: Did evolution make men and women fundamentally different? Is the concept of race merely a social construction? Is morality, including universal human rights, a mass delusion? Can religion and evolution really be harmonized? Does evolution render life meaningless? Designed for students and anyone with an interest in the relationship between evolutionary heritage and human nature, the text takes an interdisciplinary approach and offers direction for further reading and research. Each chapter presents a main topic, together with discussion of related ideas and arguments from various perspectives. Along the way, it poses life's biggest questions, pulling no punches and presenting a challenge to thinkers on all levels.