tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post4734507905773463555..comments2024-03-28T08:57:53.180+00:00Comments on Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart: Darwinian Natural Right in E. O. Wilson's New BookLarry Arnharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-69796541197003585482012-05-29T21:14:54.309+01:002012-05-29T21:14:54.309+01:00Ever since I read "Evolution of direct recipr...Ever since I read "Evolution of direct reciprocity under uncertainty can explain human generosity in one-shot encounters" by Delton, Krasnow, Cosmides, and Tooby, my inclination has been to wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate to draw the distinction between selection for genes that promote long term thinking and genes that don't.robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11506625032556918845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-9052290409799493142012-05-18T20:58:37.689+01:002012-05-18T20:58:37.689+01:00There is no conflict between tragic ethics and eth...There is no conflict between tragic ethics and ethical progress. Quite the contrary. That's how we get ethical progress.Troy Camplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-30359445064079820282012-05-14T22:21:23.651+01:002012-05-14T22:21:23.651+01:00My review of Consilience was published in Books &a...My review of Consilience was published in Books & Culture, which is available online only to subscribers.<br /><br />A large portion of that review appears in Darwinian Conservatism, 106-108.Larry Arnharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-61234984791112769432012-05-14T22:00:55.053+01:002012-05-14T22:00:55.053+01:00Where can we find your review of Consilience?Where can we find your review of Consilience?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-41918478061274240102012-05-14T20:09:17.773+01:002012-05-14T20:09:17.773+01:00Does he at all defend "natural rights" i...Does he at all defend "natural rights" in his new book? Consilience is an argument against natural rights, since he holds self-evident truths to be an example of ethical transcendentalism, and thus they are falsehoods from his ethical empiricist point of view.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-13697012645586715432012-05-14T18:27:52.909+01:002012-05-14T18:27:52.909+01:00Here's Harpending's famous paper on kin se...Here's Harpending's famous paper on kin selection: kinship and population subdivision:<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/bmnc2pnThomasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-23836994254397588392012-05-14T16:51:02.537+01:002012-05-14T16:51:02.537+01:00"We are naturally inclined to learn language,..."We are naturally inclined to learn language, Aristotle saw, but the meaning of words and sentences is by convention."<br />I'd opt for Millikan's take where meaning is determinate, and not conventional, and conventions are coordinations for cooperation. See her "Language Conventions made Simple."Empedoclesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-72655972163211017812012-05-14T16:22:16.072+01:002012-05-14T16:22:16.072+01:00In the section on the Iron Rule of Moral Evolution...In the section on the Iron Rule of Moral Evolution, you point to how Wilson's views uphold your notion of the tragic realism of evolutionary ethics. Yet, it seems that you would have to admit that as we move up the ladder of cultural evolution it appears that some arrangements have lead toward greater non-zero-sum relations understood in a positive sense. To what degree do you find that your notion of the tragic realism of evolutionary ethics agrees or disagrees with the progressive realism that Wright puts forth in his NY Times article (http://www.nonzero.org/nytprogressiverealism.htm)? Or rather how does your notion of tragic realism square with your notion of optimist realism? Is tragic realism redundant? Does it not completely capture our evolutionary history? Might progressive realism or optimist realism better capture our history? In fact, the epigraph of Wright's book, taken from Darwin's Descent of Man, suggests that Darwin himself is more of a progressive realist in terms of what to expect in the future for our species. <br /><br />And lastly, isn't group selection Darwin's main theory for our moral evolution? Consider Chapter 2 in the Conclusion section of The Descent of Man, where Darwin say, "With the higher social animals, I am not aware that any structure has been modified solely for the good of the community, though some are of secondary service to it....In regard to certain mental powers the case, as we shall see in the fifth chapter [which is on intellectual and moral faculties], is wholly different; for these faculties have been chiefly, or even exclusively, gained for the benefit of the community, and the individuals thereof, have at the same time gained an advantage indirectly." I haven't read Wilson's new book, but it appears from what you've summarized that this is Wilson's "new" view, which as we see is "old". Wilson perhaps shows what has always been the problem with a Neo-Darwinian synthesis regarding the topic of "man". In fact, I think it is a good time to reassess the soundness of the Neo-Darwinian synthesis that seems to be overly preoccupied with the genes and thus misunderstands the emergent complexity that is called human behavior.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com