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Darwinian Fairytales (Avebury Series in Philosophy) (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: soft man, shared genes theory, puppetry theory, The Selfish Gene, The Origin of Species, Cave Man (more...)

4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like a clever agnostic in Sunday school, Stove (Scientific Irrationalism) relentlessly frustrates Darwinism in this posthumous collection of 11 linked essays. To the chagrin of creationists, however, he also takes pains to note he is of no religion and believes it's "overwhelmingly probable that humans evolved from some other animal." His more modest objective is to show that Darwinism, while largely valid, fails to explain known humanity. Unfortunately, this effort is confused: if Darwin's theory of evolution were true, "there would be in every species a constant and ruthless competition to survive," when "it is perfectly obvious that human life is not like that." To illustrate, Stove cites altruism, alcohol, anal intercourse, abortion and other behaviors that shorten lives or lessen the number of children people have. He goes so far as to condemn Darwinism as a "ridiculous slander on human beings," whom he views as mammals, but not animals in the evolutionary sense. The great unexamined problem in all of this is how did humans jump off the evolutionary track? This is not to say that Stove, who made a name for himself as a conservative philosopher (most recently at the University of South Wales), is necessarily wrong. Rather, he exists in a skeptical abyss, borrowing from two distinct and potentially correct perspectives. This makes his work provocative, but flawed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Arguing that the evolutionist's view of human life, in particular, is as much an offence to logic as it is to common decency, this study attacks Darwin's theory since it arguably postulated a relentless struggle for life in all species.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 225 pages
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing (January 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1859723063
ISBN-13: 978-1859723067
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,979,419 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
soft man, shared genes theory, puppetry theory, inclusive fitness theorists, genes with offspring, selfish theorists, filial altruism, sibling altruism, veneer idea, maternity sister, parents share half, kin altruism, selfish theory, parental altruism, kin clouds, continual free fight, inclusive fitness theory, submission signals, moral reprehension, biological error, organic populations, least degree injurious, new religionists, slow breeders, baby snatchers

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Selfish Gene, The Origin of Species, Cave Man, Richard Dawkins, Purpose Regained, Hard Men, Hard Man, Paley's Revenge, Genetic Calvinism, Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, Mary Midgley, Selfish Girl, Erasmus Darwin, Great Britain, Samuel Butler, Life Force, Malthus's Essay, The Descent of Man, The Extended Phenotype, William Godwin, Errors of Heredity, Natural Theology, New York, David Hume

Citations (learn more)

10 books cite this book:

Magnaten und Primaten. by Richard Conniff in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Emergence and Convergence: Qualitative Novelty and the Unity of Knowledge (Toronto Studies in Philosophy) by Mario Bunge in Back Matter
The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide by Richard Conniff in Back Matter
The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century by David Fromkin in Back Matter
Did Darwin Get It Right?: Catholics and the Theory of Evolution by George S. Johnston in Back Matter

See all 10 books citing this book

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	80% buy the item featured on this page: Darwinian Fairytales (Avebury Series in Philosophy) 4.1 out of 5 stars (29)
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	2% buy Against the Idols of the Age 3.9 out of 5 stars (12) $26.95

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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews

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39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, brilliant, amusing., April 8, 2006

By	Jeff Stebbins "Giap" (ColoSprings, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity and Other Fables of Evolution (Hardcover)

Many scientists and laypersons, sadly, never read philosophy of science. Though informal and humorous, this is a fine introduction to the genre. Those who grasp its importance may also enjoy Midgley's "Darwinism as a Religion" and Polanyi's "Science, Faith, and Society." Like Stove, but with less humour, they harangue those (such as Dawkins and Sagan) who publish popular propaganda or religion disguised as science.

Stove highlights how illogical science can be silly or, in the case of neo-Darwinism applied to humankind, insulting. Midgley does that and more--especially by showing how Darwinism's core tenets are held by faith. Polanyi, though, is the scariest of the lot, for he describes (from his experiences of Nazism and Stalinism) how pop evolution has led to the inhumanities of abortion, euthanasia, eugenics and genocide.

When Stove attacks neo-Darwinian's use of purposive language (for, in order to, plan, strategy, etc.), and especially, when he compares it to the language of Intelligent Design, he is very, very good. I've long wondered how unguided natural forces, without the benefits of intent, are supposed to "adapt for" anything. Perhaps most delightful is Stove's description of how the anti-religious Dawkins has ordained himself the high priest of gene worship. At times, Stove takes too long (by, say, 20-30%) saying what he says. His prose is so delightful, though, that I forgive (even welcome) his verbosity.

Reviewers read books. Since "reviewer" John's last sentence points out that he has not read this one, I'm not sure what he was reviewing. If, however, he's looking for "real scientists" (i.e. not philosophers or Christians!) who question neo-Darwinism, he'll find plenty, of all faiths or none, among the hundreds of credentialed academics at www.dissentfromdarwin.org

My field (linguistics) intersects with and draws upon acoustics, anatomy, anthropology, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, information theory, literature, physics, statistics, and yes, logic and philosophy, to name just a few. All sciences (which used to be called "natural philosophies") in fact, depend upon philosophy--esp. logic--for their foundational procedures: falsifiability, inference, proof, etc. Stove's arguments and examples show what happens when scientists do without logic: they write hilarious fairytales about selfish genes or flirtatious cabbages. Read Stove, but don't stop there (and don't miss Polanyi or Midgley).

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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A skeptical, analytical philosopher takes on Darwin, Dawkins, October 1, 2007

By	Wesley L. Janssen (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity, and Other Fables of Evolution (Paperback)

"[Stove] is particularly good at exposing the `amazingly arrogant habit of Darwinians' of `blaming the fact, instead of blaming their theory' when they encounter contrary biological facts. Doctrinaire Darwinists have an answer for everything, always a bad sign in science, since it means that mere facts can never prove them wrong." - from Roger Kimball's Introduction

It is not at all the case that Stove objects to Darwinism on religious grounds, in fact he believes that present life has by some means evolved from earlier forms; however he is quite certain that "Darwin's explanation of evolution, even though it is . . . still the best one available, is not true." Stove would object, and strongly so, to having his essays cast as being sympathetic to `creationism' or, so far as I can tell, `intelligent design', as he defines himself as a man "of no religion." His knowledge and scholarship of Darwinian theory is self-evidently vast; he suggests that he has "wasted" his time reading hundreds of Darwinism's books and `Darwinian Fairytales' makes it quite evident that he has indeed studied every prominent Darwinian "from 1859 to the present hour."

I had just begun reading Richard Dawkins' `The Blind Watchmaker' when I noticed that David Stove's `Darwinian Fairytales' had been reprinted. While reading them both it quickly seemed imperative that I read Dawkins' `The Selfish Gene' before proceeding with either TBW or DF. So that is what I did. Reading the three books in close conjunction was quite a fascinating experience, and, as I have indicated elsewhere (my review of TSG), Dawkins didn't fare to well.

Stove, the late Australian philosopher of science, effectively skewers Dawkins (especially TSG, but, to a lesser extent, TBW as well), Stove nails E.O. Wilson too, in fact he takes a troupe of Darwinian champions to the woodshed -- T.H. Huxley, R.D. Alexander, R. Trivers, R.A. Fisher, among many others. A skeptic in Hume's mold, Stove has acerbically critiqued various iconic founts of Western thought, some more effectively than others, so Darwinians need not feel singled out (but of course they probably will). This book was his last, completed not long before his death in 1994.

Although he presents a few other criticisms, Stove relentlessly targets (1) Darwinism's ideological death-struggle with "altruism" -- that it must deny is actually altruism, and (2) Darwinism's non-falsifiable teleological doctrine: the immutable Lordship of "the selfish gene" -- a doggedly fideistic article of simple faith. Darwinism's teachings on altruism are easily sacked, both by clear logic and by mere empirical evidence; its supposedly anti-teleological teleology of itself qualifies Darwinism as being a religion.

If there is something to be faulted in Stove's book (a collection of 11 essays), it is the repetitiveness (not surprising as this is usually a problem in works of argumentation, witness especially Dawkins, for example). Long after Stove has illustrated the teleological confusions and defeated the "altruism" defamations demanded by Dawkins, Wilson, and the like, he is still throwing the badly bloodied doctrines to the ground. Because of this, and because each of the essays can more or less stand on its own, I recommend reading the first essay (Darwin's Dilemma), the second and the last (eleventh) before heading into the others. If the essay (#4) treating the influence of Malthus' population dynamics on Darwin's thought becomes dry or uninteresting, then skip it, perhaps moving to essays #9 (A New Religion) or 10 (Paley's Revenge, or Purpose Regained).

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20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enjoy the ride, February 7, 2007

By	Bachelier "Husband, Father, Catholic, Finance... (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity and Other Fables of Evolution (Hardcover)

Modern "scientists" have elevated evolution to a cult. Enter intelligent design (ID) critics, whacked on by their roots with creationists (their own pre-Socratics), and you have one helluva fight. With these ideologues migrating to extremism and away from reason as understood by both scientific method and Aristotelian logic you are bound to have very murky waters indeed. The debate becomes unrecognizable to the classically educated.

Enter the reasonable atheist apologist for no side with whom people of faith (like myself) and no faith (like my friends) can wholeheartedly cheer on by anchoring the conversation in reason once again. The late David Stove does just that, with precision, wit, logic, clarity, and joy. Reading this book is like a breath of fresh air, and restores faith in human reason and the ability of thinkers to expose unsupportable extremes cloaked in unearned authority, whether it is "science" or "religion." A marvellous book which will have ideologues steaming and truth lovers and sideline quarterbacks enjoying the game.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing but also accurate
David Stove (1927-1994) was an agnostic philosopher of science; he was critical of Marxism, feminism and postmodernism as well as the philosophies, amongst others, of Popper,... Read more

Published 1 month ago by rowley32256

2.0 out of 5 stars Evolution
For all you people that just want to protest evolution, think twice and try to understand to what extent science is correct and what is made up. Read more

Published 2 months ago by E. Dorin

1.0 out of 5 stars Read the first paragraph
The best description I can give why you won't want to waste your time on this book is to quote the first paragraph of the book: "If Darwin's theory of evolution were true, there... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Brice deGanahl

3.0 out of 5 stars a different type of criticism
Darwinian Fairytales is a collection of essays by the late David Stove on Darwinism and mainly the inability of Darwinism to even come close to describing nature's most strange... Read more

Published 3 months ago by N. J. Harmon

4.0 out of 5 stars Darwinian literature is 'a slander on our species'
This is in a must-read book. I underline that it hardly at all engages with the biology and chemistry of evolution of plants and the lower animals, but only with the nature and... Read more

Published 15 months ago by trini

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tangled Web
Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!"
-- Sir Walter Scott

Stove must have practiced a lot, because he was really good at... Read more

Published 15 months ago by John H. Terrell

4.0 out of 5 stars Marking the explanatory limits of the theory
For his rhetorical criticisms to have bite, David Stove focuses on a particular vision of Darwin's own thought and, later in the book, on the less circumspect pronouncements of... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Robert Bezimienny

5.0 out of 5 stars Dawkins ridiculed....
Dawkins' "memes" and "selfish genes" have been critically scrutinized in a brilliant and amusing way ("intelligent" genes smarter and more manipulative than humans?). Read more

Published 19 months ago by Wojciech Langer

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book That Will Make No One Happy
The Publisher's Weekly review at the top of the Amazon site says it pretty well. Stove exists in a world inhabited by few others, at once disparaging of religion, organized or... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Glenn Yates

1.0 out of 5 stars This is not what I expected
I barely read into the book when I realized that the author is still a true believer of the Darwin fairy tale. Read more

Published on May 12, 2007 by Eddy Secco

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