Featuring Wes Alwan, Neil Earnshaw, and Jon Turner. Recorded on 12/9/12. We discuss our dissatisfaction with Nagel's argument that evolutionary naturalism fails to explain consciousness and therefore must be supplemented by teleology. You'll find more discussion in the group. Continue Reading …
Voltaire and Evolutionary Biology
[From friend of the podcast Adam Arnold] In regards to the latest episode on Candide and the continuing discussion of scientism and evolution on the blog, it is interesting to look back on the classic article by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin on the "adaptationist programme" in evolutionary biology. In "The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a Continue Reading …
Are Men Naturally Predisposed to Excel in Life?
http://youtu.be/c1K3a5GXg3Y Watch on YouTube A 1999 episode of In Our Time was ostensibly about "feminism," but in fact addressed a narrower and more pressing issue: Are men "by nature more competitive, ambitious, status-conscious, dedicated, single-minded and persevering than women"? And if so, doesn't that mean men are biologically better disposed than women to achieve Continue Reading …
Notes on Dennett’s “Breaking the Spell,” Part 1
For our atheism episode (which has, incidentally been pushed back to be recorded in late May or possibly June... sorry, Russ!), I'm trying to read through the most popular of the "new atheist" books, and I'm sure we'll only end up discussing some select portions of the books in any detail, so as I'm going through these, I'm going to generate a few blog posts to fill readers in Continue Reading …