|
|
||
|
by: Terrence W. Deacon Introduction Since Darwin’s time, the human language capacity has been a perennially cited paragon of extreme complexity that defies the explanatory powers of natural selection. And it is not just critics of Darwinism who have argued that this most distinctive human capacity is problematic. Alfred Russel Wallace—the co-discoverer of natural selection theory and Continue reading On the Human: Rethinking the natural selection of human language by Michael Allen Gillespie At odd moments, often when I’m distracted, it occurs to me that a song or a piece of music has been repeatedly running through my head. It’s an experience nearly everyone has. Sometimes it’s invigorating to realize that you have been striding through the day to the chords of Beethoven, but it’s Continue reading Science and the Humanities 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 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 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 John Doris Do you know what you’re doing? Maybe Not. In a remarkable archival study, Pelham and colleagues (2002: 474) found that “women were about 18% more likely to move to states with names resembling their first names than they should have been based on chance” — 36% more likely for the perfect matches Virginia Continue reading Do You Know what You’re Doing? Thanks so much to everyone who has written in! There is a lot of food for thought in your postings, far too much to be digested in a short conclusion. I shall try to absorb them in the future rather than give half-baked comments now. One tiny correction: several readers picked up on the “middle-class” in Continue reading Commercial Genome Reading: follow-up by Ian Hacking “What will commercial genome-reading – from cheap 23andMe to costly but complete Knome – do to middle-class conceptions of personal identity?” Say the name Knome out loud, not in one syllable but as two:– “know-me.” The corporation unabashedly offers “Know thyself” at the masthead of its Home Page. I accept the implied invitation to connect Continue reading Commercial genome reading |
National Humanities Center
Copyright © 2006-2009 |
|
|
Copyright © 2010 National Humanities Center - All Rights Reserved |
||
