Spoilers. Look away. As usual Hollywood cannot present how scientists actually do their work. But Rise is a much better film than I expected. For…
4 CommentsCategory: Social dominance
What should evolutionary psychology comprise?
Recently there have been a number of posts and comments on evolutionary psychology. A new paper in PLoS Biology argues that human brain evolution since…
20 CommentsDid humans lose dominance?
An extensive critical review has just been published online in advance of publication for Biology and Philosophy. The title is “Evolution and the loss of…
26 CommentsAlienus a me puto
I have mentioned Terence’s line Homo sum: nihil humani a me alienum puto before. It is a declaration that all that is human is not…
6 CommentsCulpability and the Catholic Church
The facts are no longer open to interpretation: not only bishops and archbishops, but the then head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, AKA the Inquisition, knew and covered up rather than dealt with pedophiles in the priesthood, and enabled further abuse. Michael Ruse, long an accommodationist, has now conceded that Dawkins is right that the Catholic Church is a criminal and corrupt organisation, and needs to be reformed (we’ve heard that once or twice before, I think).
Why is everyone surprised? Not about the pedophilia – although I think that “protect the children” has become something of a witch and heresy hunt these days, we should be disgusted and horrified when children are abused – but rather about a large institution like the Catholic Church being more concerned about itself than those it has harmed?
You can’t have proper human relationships unless you are a Christian
… according to Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, who seems to think that prior to Jesus nobody ever had a decent human relationship. A secular…
27 CommentsYou can't have proper human relationships unless you are a Christian
… according to Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, who seems to think that prior to Jesus nobody ever had a decent human relationship. A secular…
27 CommentsThe policy policy
Australian Prime Minister for the Obvious has said that there should be a “zero tolerance” policy against bullying. In other news, a 13 year old…
15 CommentsCaste in India
3 Quarks Daily has an excellent essay on the evolution (cultural, of course) of the Varna and Jati system in India. This is often referred…
3 CommentsAristotle on politics and religion
“And further he [the tyrant] must be seen always to be exceptionally zealous as regards religious observances (for people are less afraid of suffering any…
13 Comments