Sherrie Lyons revisits Evolution and Ethics by Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin’s most energetic defender and the coiner of the word ‘agnostic’. Calling himself ‘Darwin’s bulldog’, Thomas Huxley claimed he was prepared to go to the stake if necessary to defend Darwin’s theory of evolution. Nevertheless, he did not think the doctrine of evolution could give …
Tim Delaney relates how Herbert Spencer, inventor of the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, originally applied evolutionary thinking to human society and culture. I cringe whenever I hear the term ‘social Darwinism’, and I ask myself (and my students) “Why do we use the term ‘social Darwinism’ when the works of Herbert Spencer already describe …
Mary Midgley meditates on mind and meaning among the mutations. Researchers report that people who are asked to give their reason for converting to Creationism often say that they have done so because they see it as the only possible alternative to ‘Darwinism’, which they equate with atheism and find intolerable. What does ‘Darwinism’ mean …
Alan Malachowski tries to unravel the philosophical mistakes which led to America’s recent boardroom catastrophes. Picture a small, but successful, philosophy department in a relatively new, but nevertheless rather old-fashioned, university. The members of staff are conscientious and industrious. Their students are well taught, and by all accounts well satisfied with their various courses. The …
Vincent Di Norcia theorizes how morality is generated by how the brain works. “The time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized.”Edward O.Wilson, Sociobiology – A New Synthesis Why do animals have brains? In order to survive in uncertain, often threatening environments. Conscious sentience is helpful …
Namit Arora considers the complexity of consciousness and its implications for artificial intelligence. As a graduate student of computer engineering in the early 90s, I recall impassioned late night debates on whether machines can ever be intelligent – meaning, possessing the cognition, common sense, and problem-solving skills of ordinary humans. Scientists and bearded philosophers spoke …
Michael Langford talks about the language we use to talk about the mind and brain. Rejections of freewill have been common in recent philosophical debate (e.g., in Norman Bacrac’s article ‘Epiphenomenalism Explained’ in Philosophy Now 81). The question is, are the choices we make really free, or are they predetermined consequences of the laws of …
Laura Weed takes us on a tour of the mind/brain controversy. In the twentieth century philosophy of mind became one of the central areas of philosophy in the English-speaking world, and so it remains. Questions such as the relationship between mind and brain, the nature of consciousness, and how we perceive the world, have come …
Vincent Lotz asks who should have the decisive power over someone’s cells after their death: their family, or the medical community? HeLa cells are an immortal line of human cervical cancer cells used in medical research. They are called ‘HeLa’ cells from their initial host’s name, Henrietta Lacks. Lacks was an African American woman with …
Paul Walker ponders the best type of relationship between a doctor and a patient. How well do you get on with your doctor? Every clinical consultation involves two people interacting, so should be seen as a relationship, and a moral encounter. The Hippocratic Oath, to do the best for the patient, and similar commitments grounded …