Category: Evolutionary psychology

REFERENCE: The Smith Model, an architecture for cybernetics and mind-body/ free will/ determinism/ compatibilism analysis . . .

Since the issue of agent freedom and cause has again come up, it is worth the while to post the following summary on the Smith Model for agent cause and cybernetics, from the IOSE unit on minds etc: __________ >>(c) Of neurons, brains and minds The neuron (in its various types) is the key building… more

Human evolution: Are we all “running apps from Fred Flintstone’s not-very-smartphone”?

“Work out what those apps are—so the theory goes—and you will see what the mind was designed to do.” Not, says Gottlieb more

Richard Dawkins defends the idea of having a mistress and lying about it

Many felt disgust with former vice presidential candidate John Edwards for cheating on his terminally ill wife Elizabeth Edwards. In the process of his affair, Edwards fathered a child with his mistress, Rielle Hunter. Rielle is now one of the most hated women in America. But according to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, men having mistresses… more

They said it: Did you think we were kidding about Darwinism and morality?

Ethics is illusory inasmuch as it persuades us that it has an objective reference. This is the crux of the biological position. Once it is grasped, everything falls into place. more

Evolutionary psychologist offers the discipline’s latest buzz on human ovulation

No wonder everyone from Jerry Coyne to Jerry Fodor think evo psych is, er, ridiculous. more

At last: The evolution of co-operation explained. Again.

Are the people who claim that we evolved to be violent right too? Yes, probably. Which is just the point. Everybody is right and therefore nobody is. more

Nobel Prize-winning physicist provides useful talking point against evo psych

“Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry. ” more

Gil, you were asking about Darwinism and music? There is an “explanation” …

Darwinism doesn’t shed light on human behaviour, it merely interprets human behaviour according to Darwinism – a very different and much less useful exercise. more

Why “doing the science” about literature doesn’t tell you much about literature

” … to think that the invocation of empirical studies on a subject frees one from the job of finding out what the great instinctive psychologists have said … is just misguided.” more

John Gray: Evolutionary theorists assume their own leanings in morality are universal

“… self-evident to secular social scientists in American universities, but it hardly squares with how most human beings (or most Americans, for that matter) understand morality.” more

Genes are responsible for politics? Convenient news in an election year

“Darwinitis is essentially a form of uncontrolled speculation, not science. It depends entirely for whatever shred of plausibility it has on promissory notes written against future experiments. ” more

Was Anders Breivik “not-insane”?

Other psychiatrists now find Norway massacre gunman Anders Behring Breivik ‘not insane’ – prison now possible “The experts’ main conclusion is that the accused, Anders Behring Breivik, is not considered to have been psychotic at the time of the actions on July 22, 2011,” the Oslo district court said in a statement which reopens the… more

Why the uproar around E. O. Wilson’s new “group selection” book?

Endless theories based on Wilson’s sociobiology (evolutionary psychology) in psychology journals. Then the founder disowns it all. No wonder they want to get him. more

If even atheist Philip Kitcher is saying, take out this trash, …

A paper that, quite properly, wouldn’t review some apocalyptic fundie should also not be reviewing lowbrow “evolutionary psychology” atheist trash. more

Parallel tracks for moral rules? It’s amazing the amount of pseudo-science Darwinism has spawned.

How do we know who our kin are? Is there a mystical Darwinmagic, a subtle influence of our selfish genes, that tells us so? more

Social psychology 1, Evolutionary psychology 0

“Fear of impregnation by foreign invaders” (which evolution somehow captured in a woman’s genes) is a ridiculous explanation for racism during ovulation. How about general discomfort due to hormone flux? more

Jerry Coyne’s hilarious takedown of Chris Mooney’s new “yer politics is in yer genes” book

“‘Compelling evolutionary logic,’ of course, is not data: it’s just the perceived ability to make a convincing story. ” more

Why science should stay out of understanding human nature … before something worse than this happens.

There is danger involved in labeling essentially normal kids as sick. more

Michael Flannery: Where Jerry Fodor’s critique of Darwinism misses the boat

“The authors are at least to be commended for giving the world a non-habit-forming sleep aid.” more

As a cure for relativism, Darwinism is worse than the disease – Barham

Does Scruton really think that the traditional division of roles was rooted in some psychological issue that got passed on in our genes? more

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