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9 - People of the Forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2023

Raymond Noble  and
Denis Noble
Raymond Noble
Affiliation:
University College London
Denis Noble
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Where is the living mind that thinks? Culture is the matrix of the mind. Organisms owe their social and mental abilities to the ‘nesting’ of causation between all levels of their functioning. Higher levels mould what the lower levels can do. This is how living systems can use their flexibility, from cultural and linguistic variability to the water-based jiggling around of their molecules, to enable the evolution of rational and ethical social organisation. It is within this purposiveness that genuine freedom and responsibility are to be found.

Keywords

purposive behaviourteleologycreative evolutiongene delusionecological intelligencegene-centrismthe central dogmaWeismann barrieragencyliving systemssymbiogenesissymbiosiscommunicationlanguagelearningnaturesocial animalsproblem-solvingartificial intelligenceorganism intelligencefree willtransgenerational inheritance
Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding Living Systems , pp. 131 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • People of the Forest
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.011
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  • People of the Forest
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • People of the Forest
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.011
Available formats
×