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 …