Human Nature: Fact and Fiction

Human Nature: Fact and Fiction brings together a collection of inspiring, thought-provoking and original perspectives on human nature by ten leading writers, scientists and academics.
What do we mean by "human nature"? Is there a genetically determined core of humanity that unites us all as members of a single species? Or is the thing we call human nature a social construct? And how do we explain the mystery of human creativity? Do great writers have an intuitive grasp of what makes human beings tick, or are they merely the mouthpiece of contemporary culture?
It has been claimed that "the greatest enterprise of the mind has always been and always will be the attempted linkage of the sciences and humanities" (Edward O. Wilson). This groundbreaking book marks the beginning of a new dialogue between the two. Rather than focusing on the division between them, it shows that the sciences and humanities have much to learn from each other. Points of disagreement remain. Yet there is in this volume a genuine attempt to bridge the gulf that has traditionally separated the sciences and humanities and to reach a better understanding of what it means to be human.

Author: Robin Headlam Wells, Johnjoe McFadden
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 03/30/2006
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 7.78h x 5.40w x 0.86d
ISBN: 9780826485458

About the Author
Robin Headlam Wells is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Literature at Roehampton University, London. His publications include Elizabethan Mythologies (Cambridge University Press, 1994), Shakespeare on Masculinity (Cambridge University Press, 2000), and Shakespeare's Humanism (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Johnjoe McFadden is Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Surrey.