Out July 21, pre-order here.
The scuba-diving philosopher and bestselling author of Other Minds
explores the origins of animal consciousness. Dip below the
ocean's surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could
not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals and
flower-like worms, whose rooted bodies and intricate geometry are more
reminiscent of plant life than anything recognisably animal. Yet these
creatures are our cousins.
As fellow members of the animal
kingdom - the Metazoa - they can teach us about the evolutionary origins
of not only our bodies, but also our minds. In his
acclaimed book, Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith explored the mind of
the octopus - the closest thing to an intelligent alien on Earth. In
Metazoa, he expands his inquiry to animals at large, investigating the
evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species.
Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form
well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set
life upon a new path. He charts the ways that subsequent evolutionary
developments - eyes that track, for example, and bodies that move
through and manipulate the environment - shaped the lives of animals.
Following the evolutionary paths of a glass sponge, soft coral, banded
shrimp, octopus and fish, then moving onto land and the world of
insects, birds and primates like ourselves, Metazoa gathers these
stories together to bridge the gap between matter and mind and address
one of the most important philosophical questions: what is the origin of
consciousness? Combining vivid animal encounters with
philosophy and biology, Metazoa reveals the impossibility of separating
the evolution of our minds from the evolution of animals themselves.
Metazoa : Animal Minds and the Birth of Consciousness - Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Product Code:New
- Availability:In Stock
-
£9.99