Subjects of the World: Darwin's Rhetoric and the Study of Agency in Nature

Contents......Page 8
Part One: A Progressive Orientation: Naturalism as Exploration......Page 10
1 The Vividness of Truth: Darwin’s Romantic Rhetoric and the Evolutionary Framework......Page 12
2 Our Most Vexing Problem: Conceptual Conservatism and Conceptual Imperialism......Page 28
3 Naturalism as Exploration: The Elements of Reform......Page 44
Part Two: The Allure of Agency: ‘Purpose’ in Biology......Page 62
4 The Real Heart of Darwinian Evolutionary Biology......Page 64
5 A Formative Power of a Self-Propagating Kind: Natural Purposes and the Concept Location Project......Page 85
6 A Persistent Mode of Understanding: The Psychological Power of ‘Purpose’......Page 113
Part Three: The Illusions of Agency: ‘Free Will’ and ‘Moral Responsibility’......Page 144
7 The Death of an Aphorism: The Psychology of Free Will......Page 146
8 The Bare Possibility of Our Opinion: Libertarian Imperialism......Page 179
9 Words Give Us a Special Ability: Compatibilist Conservatism......Page 202
Appendix......Page 236
Notes......Page 238
Appreciation and Acknowledgments......Page 248
References......Page 252
Index......Page 262