Experience and Beyond: The Outline of A Darwinian Metaphysics [Paperback]

This book presentsa persuasive argument in favour of evolutionary naturalism and outlines whatsuch a stance means for our capacity of observation and understanding reality.The author discusses how our capacity of knowledge is adapted to handlesensory information about the environment in the light of Charles Darwinstheory of evolution. The implication of this is that much of our thinking inscience and philosophy that goes beyond our immediate experience rests onabstractions and hypostatization. This book rejects the possibility of havingany knowledge of reality as it is in itself, while not denying that ourcapacity of conceptual abstractions is of great benefit for our survival. 

Preface and Introduction.- 1 Evolutionary Naturalism.- The manifest image.- The scientific image.-Kants metaphysical dualism.- Evolutionary epistemology.- 2 Evolution and HumanCognition.- The Darwinian legacy. Setting the legacy straight.- A fallacy ofnaturalization.- Intention and innate dispositions.- 3 Sensation, Perception,and Observation.- Perception as belief acquisition.- From perception to observation.- Theory-ladenness.- Instrumentalobservation.- Observability.-4 Theory and Reality.- Forms of realism.- Conceptual frameworks and externalcommitments.- Theory realism.- The success argument.- Constructive empiricism.-Structural realism.- The failure of representationalism.- 5 Truth, Language,and Objectivity.- What istruth?.- Truth and meaning.- Non-realism concerning Truth.- A naturalized notionof truth.- Semantics and ontology.- 6 Abstraction and Reification.- Commonsense and externality.- What makes an entity abstract?.- Abstract objectsversus abstracted concepts.- Why did abstracted concepts evolve?.- 7 In Defenceof Nominalism.- Concrete, artificial, and nominal particulars.- Particulars anduniversals.- Conceptualism.- 8 Space, Time, and Space-time.- The existence of Space.-The existence of Time.- Space-time substantivalism.- Space-time relationil³à