Format:
Online-Ressource (xi, 295 p.)
,
cm
Content:
"The question of the reality of teleological action has been remarkably neglected. We have had much discussion of the evidence for design in Nature; but those who incline to regard that evidence as respectable, equally with those who regard it as convincing, have seldom examined the prior and more fundamental question, namely: Is there good reason to believe that causal processes are or can be in any instances governed by design? Among contemporary thinkers, the vast majority of men of science and, I think, a considerable majority of philosophers, assume that all causation is of one type only, namely, the mechanistic type, that teleological causation does not occur, or, at least, that all instances of seemingly teleological causation are but specially complicated and obscure forms of mechanistic causation. The dominance of modern thinking by this assumption is the essence of what in this book is meant by Modern Materialism"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Note:
Includes index. - Reprint of 1929. - Electronic reproduction; Washington, D.C; American Psychological Association; 2011; Available via World Wide Web; Access limited by licensing agreement; s2011 dcunns
Language:
English
Author information:
McDougall, William 1871-1938