"In this readable, at times magisterial book . . . Plotkin asks the big questions, with vital implications for a just social policy." -The New Statesman

"Probably the best statement you can find in print of a very important contemporary view of mental structure and process."-London Review of Books on Evolution in Mind

"Plotkin has written a book that is a pleasure to read, will instruct a wide audience, and will force most readers to think for themselves about the issues he addresses."-Nature on Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge

Can the insights of science provide a proper understanding of human culture, or must we leave the analysis of culture to the so-called humanities?

The ability to share knowledge and beliefs is the preeminent characteristic of our species. Science itself is a product of culture and the natural sciences are the most powerful forms of knowledge we have. From explanations of the origins of the universe to descriptions of the molecular structure of life, science has a spectacular record of achievement. Yet it has mostly failed to provide an understanding of human culture.

The Imagined World Made Real changes this by showing how a grasp of human evolution extends the reach of science. Henry Plotkin recognizes that at the heart of human culture are social constructs, such as justice and money, and that collective beliefs, values, and actions are essential to their formation and maintenance. Only when these constructs are integrated into an accepted biological framework will there be a true synthesis between the social and natural sciences.

This book describes the beginnings of a comprehensive natural science of culture, and with it, an understanding of why people do what they do. Culture can now be thought of as a natural process that is actually billions of years old.

Henry Plotkin is a professor of psychobiology at University College London. He is the author of Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge and Evolution in Mind