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by: Suzanne Preston Blier Egbé eja leja ?wè tò, egbé eye leye ?wò lé We mention nature and forget ourselves in it. So engrained is the trope of the animal in the West that animal truisms are seared into Continue reading Animalia: the Natural World, Art, and Theory by: Connie S. Rosati It is now something of a commonplace that we think about our lives in story form. According to a recent article in the New York Times, psychological research into the personal narratives we tell supports the idea that we are natural storytellers. [2] “The human brain,” the article reports, Continue reading Narrative and Personal Good by Mark Stoneking As a molecular anthropologist, my research involves using genetic data to address questions of anthropological interest about the origins, history, migration, structure, and relationships of human populations. I frequently am asked to give lectures to nonspecialist audiences on insights from genetics into human evolution, and invariably during the ensuing discussion period the viewpoint Continue reading Does Culture Prevent or Drive Human Evolution? by Stuart A. Marks “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” To understand portions of one’s own culture demands a lifetime; to become familiar with another’s depends upon a host of enthusiastic interpreters, attentive listening, experiencing a multitude of unfamiliar activities, a receptive heart, and good fortune. Throughout my Continue reading Wild Animals and a Different Human Face by Sir Patrick Bateson The use of hounds in hunting excites great passions. Hunting deer is particularly hated by those who are opposed to it and ardently loved by those who support it. If you wept as a child at the death of Bambi’s mother, you know what it is like to be hunted. Continue reading Hunting and Science by Alex Rosenberg This is a précis of an argument that naturalism forces upon us a very disillusioned “take” on reality. It is one that most naturalists have sought to avoid, or at least qualify, reinterpret, or recast to avoid its harshest conclusions about the meaning of life, the nature of morality, the significance of our Continue reading The Disenchanted Naturalist’s Guide to Reality by William G. Lycan Abstracted from ‘Qualitative experience in machines,’ The Digital Phoenix: How computers are changing philosophy. 1. Many people, perhaps most people, have the idea that, however problematic qualitative experience is for the case of human beings, it is a lot more so for that of machines constructed by human beings. Few philosophers doubt that Continue reading Qualitative Experience in Machines by Dan Batson We humans spend a remarkable amount of time, money, and energy to benefit others, including family, friends, and strangers. Why do we do it? Do we ever care about others for their sakes and not simply for our own? Is our ultimate goal always and exclusively self-benefit, or are we capable of caring Continue reading Empathic Concern and Altruism in Humans by Raymond Tallis Does evolution explain our behaviour? The short answer is: No. And you may well concur with that answer but ‘out there’ there is an increasing constituency of thinkers claiming quite otherwise. Along with the claims that the brain explains the mind and activity in one bit of brain or another corresponds Continue reading Does Evolution Explain Our Behaviour? by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy I am an anthropologist and primate sociobiologist who seeks to understand, step by Darwinian step, how apes could have evolved to imagine and care about what the lives of others might be like. I believe that such questing for inter-subjective engagement laid the foundations for significant later developments such as language and Continue reading How Humans Became Such Other-Regarding Apes |
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