Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. The psycho-linguist prof. from Duke University joins Wes, Dylan, Seth, and Chris Heath to discuss his 2022 book, The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans. What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as opposed to just Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part Two for Supporters)
Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author in part one. We relate examples from the book of animals of various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise engaging in agentive or proto-agentive behaviors. One particularly Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Guest Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part One for Supporters)
The psycho-linguist prof. from Duke University joins Wes, Dylan, Seth, and Chris Heath to discuss his 2022 book, The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans. What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as opposed to just acting automatically? Tomasello investigates this by thinking about what capabilities Continue Reading …
PEL End-of-Summer Nightcap 2023
Recorded 8/21/23. Mark, Seth, Dylan, and eventually Wes catch up, getting into people's travels, getting in touch with nature, Barbie, How To with John Wilson, anticipating our upcoming episodes, and then a large information dump from Wes about his research into gender and evolutionary psychology, which will no doubt end up in a PEL episode eventually. We conclude by Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Ep 205 Durkheim et al on Suicide (Part Three)
Mark and Wes continue the discussion of Emile Durkheim's Suicide begun in parts 1 and 2, getting into more of the details of his account and in particular exploring comparative modes of explanation: Are there really "sociological facts" distinct from mere generalizations about psychological facts? This leads us to more discussion of the legitimacy of psychoanalytic Continue Reading …
Ep. 205 Follow-Up: Durkheim and Explanation Types (Citizens Only)
Following on our discussion with Dr. Drew, Mark and Wes discuss Emile Durkheim's Suicide (1897), getting into more of the details of his account and in particular exploring comparative modes of explanation: Are there really "sociological facts" distinct from mere generalizations about psychological facts? This leads us to more discussion of the legitimacy of psychoanalytic Continue Reading …
Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part Two)
Continuing on Why Buddhism Is True. We discuss the "no self" doctrine as articulated in Buddha's so-called Second Discourse, the "Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-Self Characteristic" and the modularity-of-mind psychological theory that Bob claims supports the Buddhist position. What's the ethical implication of the no-self doctrine, and do we really need Continue Reading …
Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part One)
Bob joins Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan to discuss his new book Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. Bob is a best-selling author and scholar in the area of evolutionary psychology (as well as a podcaster: check out bloggingheads.tv). His past books like Nonzero and The Moral Animal lay down foundations for talking about the Continue Reading …
Ep. 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Citizen Edition)
Bob joins Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan to discuss his new book Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. Bob is a best-selling author and scholar in the area of evolutionary psychology (as well as a podcaster: check out bloggingheads.tv). His past books like Nonzero and The Moral Animal lay down foundations for talking about the Continue Reading …
Meta(evolutionary)psychology
One of the consistently best sites on the Internet for thoughtful reviews of worthwhile books is Metapsychology Online Reviews, edited by Christian Perring. A standout in the current issue is George Tudorie's review of Michael Tomasello's A Natural History of Human Thinking. Tomasello is co-director of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the author of Continue Reading …
An Objection to Sharon Street’s “Darwinian Dilemma”
I’ve been stalled for some time now in my attempt to write a review of Thomas Nagel’s Mind and Cosmos. My primary stumbling block has been his reliance in one section on Sharon Street’s “A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value”, which attempts to show that natural selection (in its current form) is not compatible with moral realism. Where Street takes this Continue Reading …
The Science of Storytelling
Adam Gopnik reviews yet another attempt to apply evolutionary psychology to the humanities -- Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal -- and finds it wanting: It is one thing to think that psychology may solve problems that baffle philosophy or criticism; it well may. But to think that the invocation of empirical studies on a subject frees one from the job of finding out Continue Reading …
Evolutionary Psychology’s Pseudo-Explanations of Art and Culture
Evolutionary psychologists seem to assume that all of an organism's traits must be the result of natural selection. This is not the case. As Stephen Jay Gould pointed out, it is entirely possible that a given trait is merely a by-product of another trait that is adaptive. This by-product may in fact thwart reproductivity ("fitness") as long as this is outweighed by the benefits Continue Reading …
Will Your Genes Marry Mine?
Slate reviews the latest excretion of pseudo-scientific, evolutionary psychology-based aspirational ethics, as incorporated into a marriage self-help book: Tara Parker-Pope, the earnest health reporter for the New York Times, promises a new wrinkle in the self-help genre with her book, For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage. Her basic premise is that there exists a vast, Continue Reading …