Browse by:

New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Studies

Check out the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Studies iTunes U site. Click the launch bar: once it loads click the NEI box and at the bottom right hand side of the first category, click the box that looks like this: You will find Ruth Garrett Millikan’s recent lecture. Richard Wrangham Paul Roscoe

The Hive Mind

                  The latest issue of Seed features an article entitled “The Hive Mind” by Benjamin Phelan:  The selfless behavior of ants, bees, and wasps has confounded scientists for more than a century. Is the question a red herring or the key to a new evolutionary synthesis?  Speaking…

Clark’s reply to Fodor

This hot off the press. Jerry Fodor, you may recall, reviewed Andy Clark’s latest work Supersizing the Mind in the London Review of Books. In the latest issue, Clark uses the Letters section to respond. As this is a general link I paste in Clark’s letter below.   Letters Vol. 31 No. 6 · Cover…

Evolutionary roots of deception and self-deception

I want to bring your attention to the work of philosopher David Livingstone Smith. David is one of the foremost theorists in: 1. Biologically informed philosophical naturalism 2. Evolution and human nature 3. Deception and self-deception 4. The evolutionary psychology of war and peace 5. Dehumanization His recent books include Less Than Human (forthcoming); The…

Fable of the Bees

Now it is becoming clear that group decisions are also extremely valuable for the success of social animals, such as ants, bees, birds and dolphins. And those animals may have a thing or two to teach people about collective decision-making. There’s an article in the Economist entitled “Decisions, decisions: What people can learn from how social…

Orders and Borders

This past weekend I had the good fortune to be able to attend the Second Conference on Emergent Order and Society held in Portsmouth, NH. The term “conference” doesn’t really characterise the format – it is more akin to a colloquium where the emphasis is on genuine discussion and conversation in an intimate group (18 in all)…

Grayling vs. Fuller on Intelligent Design

In the latest issue of the New HumanistAnthony Grayling pulls no punches in attacking Steve Fuller’s latest book. Steve Fuller responds; Grayling comes back. Part 1: Grayling – Origin of the specious Part 2: Fuller – Against the faith Part 3: Grayling – Bolus of nonsense A month ago, I did say that this controversy will run and…