Ethics and Moral Philosophy Morality and evolution 4: Is morality fitness-enhancing? 19 May 201422 May 2014 [Morality and Evolution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7] If we agree that morality enhances fitness, because it enables cooperation, several questions arise: what sort of fitness enhancement does it provide and to what? In short, what is the selection process tracking? To say that morality provides a foundation for social cohesion and the consequent… Continue Reading
Biology Why is Darwin’s theory so controversial? 24 Nov 2012 So asks this essay and gets the whole thing wrong. Darwin’s theories (plural) are not controversial because they imply that species are mutable. This was a widely held view by preachers, moralists, Aristotelians, naturalists, breeders, formalists, folk biology, and even biblical translators. Darwin was not controversial because he implied racist… Continue Reading
Cognition New publications 25 Aug 201225 Aug 2012 I have added some under-review drafts of my papers to the PhilPapers archive: Essentialism in Biology. Essentialism in philosophy is the position that things, especially kinds of things, have essences, or sets of properties, that all members of the kind must have, and the combination of which only members of the… Continue Reading
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Rise of the Planet of the Moralists 5: Social Dominance and Power 2 Nov 20112 Nov 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Moralists Series1: Introduction2: Chains and Trees 3: Clades and grades4: Predicting traits5: Social dominance and power Thus far we have focused on the differences between human beings and apes, and the ways we should expect to find each species behave. What do all apes… Continue Reading
Censorship On fear and risk 31 Jan 2010 I haven’t had a rant/sermon in a while. My parents’ generation went through the second world war, fighting tyrants and ideologies that sought to control our everyday lives; for which reason they are sometimes called “the best generation”. Their parents’ generation fought world war one and went through the Depression…. Continue Reading
Humor Avatar plotline 17 Jan 2010 is best summed up as Dances with Smurfahontas in Fern Gully For example… And now, the Metacontextual Edition (warning! Major plot spoilers, and I mean that in the most literal way). Continue Reading
Politics "Including none at all" 16 Jan 2010 Just when I start to get cynical about Obama’s agenda, he proclaims this: Long before our Nation’s independence, weary settlers sought refuge on our shores to escape religious persecution on other continents. Recognizing their strife and toil, it was the genius of America’s forefathers to protect our freedom of religion,… Continue Reading
Politics A video for Pat Robertson 15 Jan 2010 [dailymotion id=x2v4rb] The Hives – Walk Idiot Walk by The-Hives Continue Reading
Philosophy Arendt and Heidegger – moral failures? 31 Oct 2009 Slate has an essay on Arendt and Heidegger by Ron Rosenbaum that suggests they never really disavowed or freed themselves from fascist ideology. Worth a read. Continue Reading
History The forgotten Holocaust 15 Oct 2009 This is a disturbing essay by Timothy Snyder in the New York Review of Books, republished in Eurozine. It suggests that we do not remember the entirety of the Holocaust in German and Soviet hands. [H/T 3 Quarks Daily] Continue Reading