{"product_id":"the-meaning-of-human-existence-9781631491146","title":"The Meaning of Human Existence","description":"In \u003cem\u003eThe Meaning of Human Existence\u003c\/em\u003e, his most philosophical work to date, Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O. Wilson grapples with these and other existential questions, examining what makes human beings supremely different from all other species. Searching for meaning in what Nietzsche once called \"the rainbow colors\" around the outer edges of knowledge and imagination, Wilson takes his readers on a journey, in the process bridging science and philosophy to create a twenty-first-century treatise on human existence--from our earliest inception to a provocative look at what the future of mankind portends. \u003cp\u003eContinuing his groundbreaking examination of our \"Anthropocene Epoch,\" which he began with \u003cem\u003eThe Social Conquest of Earth\u003c\/em\u003e, described by the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e as \"a sweeping account of the human rise to domination of the biosphere,\" here Wilson posits that we, as a species, now know enough about the universe and ourselves that we can begin to approach questions about our place in the cosmos and the meaning of intelligent life in a systematic, indeed, in a testable way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce criticized for a purely mechanistic view of human life and an overreliance on genetic predetermination, Wilson presents in \u003cem\u003eThe Meaning of Human Existence\u003c\/em\u003e his most expansive and advanced theories on the sovereignty of human life, recognizing that, even though the human and the spider evolved similarly, the poet's sonnet is wholly different from the spider's web. Whether attempting to explicate \"The Riddle of the Human Species,\" \"Free Will,\" or \"Religion\"; warning of \"The Collapse of Biodiversity\"; or even creating a plausible \"Portrait of E.T.,\" Wilson does indeed believe that humanity holds a special position in the known universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe human epoch that began in biological evolution and passed into pre-, then recorded, history is now more than ever before in our hands. Yet alarmed that we are about to abandon natural selection by redesigning biology and human nature as we wish them, Wilson soberly concludes that advances in science and technology bring us our greatest moral dilemma since God stayed the hand of Abraham.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilson, Edward O.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eEdward O. Wilson\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of more than thirty books, including \u003cem\u003eAnthill\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLetters to a Young Scientist\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eThe Conquest of Nature\u003c\/em\u003e. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson is a professor emeritus at Harvard University and lives with his wife in Lexington, Massachusetts.","brand":"Liveright Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50629291082002,"sku":"9781631491146","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3a548e06-58fe-4074-b444-89c12895ed80.jpg?v=1744220699","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-meaning-of-human-existence-9781631491146","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}