The Splendid Feast of Reason

The intrusion of reason and rationality into our largely irrational world has been painfully slow, uneven, and often unwelcome. Singer explains that for rationalists the founding of modern science--which took place only a few hundred years ago--has overthrown many of the myths of conventional wisdom and dogmas of traditional religions. Yet these beliefs still hold sway over the irrational world, obstructing efforts to deal sensibly with the problematic future of mankind.

The core of The Splendid Feast of Reason is an engaging and accessible account of the knowledge that modern science provides. Singer offers an absorbing discussion of how life works, of the nature of reproduction, aging, and death, and of the necessary fragility of the individual life compared to the resilience of life itself. He emphasizes the primary role of the genes in determining the structural organization and the behaviors of living things, including humans. He also stresses the nature and mechanisms of biological evolution, mechanisms that have now been placed in jeopardy because of human ignorance and irrational appetites. Finally, Singer delves into the enigma of the real world with its irrational and chaotic operations and offers suggestions of how a rationalist can not only survive, but thrive in it.

Contents

• Homage to the square
• Making the external word safe for humanity: the roles of myth and religion
• Deciphering the real world
• Modern biology and the response to vitalism
• Biological repair and the realities of human life, aging, and death
• Behavior and the genes
• Life's ancient strategies for survival
• The futures prospects of biology
• Off with the old ideas, on with the new
• Our dual words: the concept of complementary
• Rationalists in an irrational word
• Appendixes
• Notes
• Index