Archive for the ‘evolution’ Category

28 Sep

SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed

Posted by Chris MacDonald in Business Ethics, economics, ethics, evolution, Moral psychology, politics, Uncategorized.

Here’s a review, by David Willetts , of Martin Nowak and Roger Highfield’s book, SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed

The link to the review is here: The invisible hand that binds us all

Willetts’s bottom line:

Like other great controversialists, Mr Nowak moves from decision matrices to emotive moral language. He says the best strategy is to be hopeful, generous and forgiving. Hopeful means you first try co-operation – your opening move should be positive. Generous means not to be as concerned where you are relative to others as to obscure your own gains from interaction even if they are more modest. Forgiving means if someone else defects, you do not defect straightaway but try to re-establish co-operation, not least because it could have been an accidental mistake.
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We cannot just offer freedom, opportunity and choice without also recognising the power of belonging, commitment and roots. But all politicians can draw inspiration and ideas from the intellectual resources of this exciting approach.

You can buy the book on Amazon, by clicking here: SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed
(As always, no endorsement is implied.)

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20 Oct

The Moral Landscape (again)

Posted by Chris MacDonald in evolution, Moral psychology.

Here’s a terrific review (by philosopher Michael Ruse) of Sam Harris’s new book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values: Little ‘Value’ in New Harris Book

According to Ruse, the book’s key flaws are a) the author’s excessive enthusiasm for personal attacks, and b) the author’s hubris in believing that he had found “the secret that has eluded David Hume and G. E. Moore, and just about every professional philosopher of the twentieth century….”

Ruse’s bottom line:

If God wanted to destroy New Atheism, getting this book written was a good start. Although, as I said at the beginning, perhaps the first divine move was making Sam Harris so famous he thought he could get away with it.

To see this book on Amazon, click here: The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values
(As always, no endorsement is implied.)

12 Oct

The Moral Landscape

Posted by Chris MacDonald in evolution, Moral psychology.

Here’s a review (by Steve Paulson, writing for HuffPo) of Sam Harris’s new book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values

The atheist Sam Harris has just lobbed a bombshell into the roiling debate over science and religion. In his new book The Moral Landscape, he argues for an entirely new understanding of morality, based not on religion but on new insights from science, especially brain science….

You can buy the book on Amazon, by clicking here: The Moral Landscape
(As always, no endorsement is implied.)