Origins of Nature's Beauty: Essays by Alexander F. Skutch (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

Origins of Nature's Beauty: Essays by Alexander F. Skutch (Corrie Herring Hooks Series) image
ISBN-10:

029276037X

ISBN-13:

9780292760370

Edition: First Edition
Released: Jan 01, 1992
Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr
Format: Hardcover, 292 pages
to view more data

Description:

A lifetime's keen observation of the physical world has led Alexander Skutch to ask deeply philosophical questions about the nature of "nature." In this thought-provoking study, he turns his attention to the problem of how "quality"--beauty, goodness, morality--has arisen in a process of evolution that appears to favor sheer "quantity."
Skutch draws his examples from the natural wonders he knows best--birds, butterflies, and flowers. He shows how each uses beauty to attract mates or pollinators and repel or hide from predators--all instances where quality serves the goal of increasing the quantity of a species. More than this, Skutch offers intriguing evidence that animals may possess an aesthetic sense and consciously choose beautiful objects, just as humans do.
These views, running counter to prevailing mechanistic explanations of natural processes, offer food for thought to both specialists and the general public. It is Skutch's deeply held conviction that naturalists should try to discover and make widely known whatever is "fair and heartening" in nature, in contrast to the apparent randomness and violence of Darwinian natural selection.


























We're an Amazon Associate. We earn from qualifying purchases at Amazon and all stores listed here.

Want a Better Price Offer?

Set a price alert and get notified when the book starts selling at your price.

Want to Report a Pricing Issue?

Let us know about the pricing issue you've noticed so that we can fix it.