[Extract] Part one of the book consists of three chapters and is titled 'Getting to grips with the thought styles'. The first chapter 'Biology and the drive for human improvement'… Click to show full abstract
[Extract] Part one of the book consists of three chapters and is titled 'Getting to grips with the thought styles'. The first chapter 'Biology and the drive for human improvement' reviews recent developments in the biological sciences, and how these are now being linked, somewhat problematically, to earlier efforts to improve the human condition. 'How knowledge gets made in neuroscience and molecular biology' is the next chapter. Here, the authors lay out what they say are particular forms of reasoning and thought that are used by physical scientists. Their conclusion is that these thought forms lead to questionable conclusions about efforts to improve the human condition and invite the pursuit of 'a utopia free from misery, disorder and disease' (p. 3). These conclusions are not value free.
               
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