The Place Of Death In Evolution

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1897 Edition.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI THE METHOD OF POSITIVE BENEVOLENCE IN THE LAW OF DEATH IN approaching this more personal part of the problem of mortality, we shall seek first to apprehend the utilities of physical death for the immortality of the human race as a whole; for if we succeed in grasping the nearer end of any great principle of life, our thought may swing itself up by it to higher and more fruitful conceptions of the truth. Ignoring for the moment our personal desires of life, and man's many sorrows, it will prove of advantage if we may gain some clear, broad view of the utility for our humanity, as a whole, of the natural law of death. If we succeed occasionally in seeing things as a whole (as a prophet once said), it will become less difficult for us to understand and to accept with cheerfulness our personal place and part in an order of providence which in its largeness and completeness is seen to be benign. The author has indicated the usefulness of this method of faith in his Personal Creeds, pp. 55 seq. One of these first more evident utilities of death for human life as a whole consists in the immense enlargement, through its means, of this earth as a field for the birth and training of a race of immortals. In natural history one of the vital questions concerns the field for life; whether it is large and rich, or sheltered enough to secure the maintenance and spread of. vegetation, and to afford animal life ample opportunity for its increase. If the field is crowded or barren, or if it lies exposed to destructive elements, then among the plants and animals the struggle will become severe; and the possible amount of the variety, beauty, and joyousness of life in that too limited field will be reduced to narrow limits. Upon the same field of...

Argues that death is not unchanging, but rather has evolved over time.

The latest volume in this multidisciplinary series on key topics in evolutionary studies, Evolutionary Perspectives on Death provides an evolutionary analysis of mortality and the consideration of death. Bringing together noted experts from a variety of fields, the books emanate from conferences held at Oakland University, and are dedicated to providing wide ranging and occasionally provocative views of human evolution. The volume on death covers topics from biology, anthropology, psychology, sociology and philosophy, with contributors addressing how evolution informs the process of comprehending, grieving, depicting, celebrating, and accepting death. Among the topics covered: Evolutionary perspectives on the loss of a twin Nonhuman primate responses to death Death in literature Witnessing and representing the death of pets The role of human decomposition facilities in shaping American perspectives on death This insightful volume showcases groundbreaking empirical and theoretical research addressing death and mortality from an evolutionary perspective, demonstrating the intellectual value of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding psychological processes and behavior. Chapter 6 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

Excerpt from The Chances of Death and Other Studies in Evolution, Vol. 1 of 2 To some readers a few words of explanation on the apparent want of unity in the contents of this book may seem desirable. In the first place, the author believes this heterogeneity will be found more in the titles of the several essays than in their contents. There must always be a unity, interesting at least to the psychologist, if not to the general reader, when a mind with its opinions and methods of investigation reason ably matured approaches even very diverse problems. But the author would be unwilling to admit that this is the sole unity of his essays. He believes that the sympathetic reader will find in one and all the essays he fundamental note of the author's thought, namely he endeavour to see all phenomena, physical and social. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Explores how new organs might be engineered via cloning and reproductive technology to achieve human immortality.