Description: Beginning with Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) and ending with the work of the English game theorist Geoffrey Parker and the American paleontologist Jack Sepkoski, Ruse explicates the role of metaphor and metavalues in evolutionary thought and draws significant conclusions about the cultural impregnation of science.
Brief description: Michael Ruse is the former Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Guelph. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Gifford Lecturer, and the author or editor of more than sixty books.
Review Quotes: In one hundred years science historians may identify the past half century as the age of the 'science wars'--with armies on one side marshalling their defense of science as an objective enterprise, against the forces on the other claiming science is socially constructed. Michael Ruse's Mystery of Mysteries will be identified as a watershed in the science wars debate, as he navigates the treacherous waters between extremists on both sides and shows us how to find an intelligent middle route. To find out how science can be both the product of fallible, biased, culture-bound scientists, and a self-correcting method that unveils real facts about reality, read this compelling work by one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking minds of our age.--Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine, author, Why People Believe Weird Things